Nation Ford InvenTeam- November Blog

Shout it From the Rooftops!
The Nation Ford InvenTeam is beyond thrilled to be one of the fifteen InvenTeams chosen for 2019! We are so glad we can finally shout it from the rooftops that this South Carolina school is getting the opportunity of a lifetime, and we can’t wait to share our progress with you.It’s hard to believe that it’s only been a little over a month since the 2018-2019 Lemelson-MIT InvenTeam grant cycle has begun! With all the work that has had to go into the designing and construction of our Smart Nutrient Additive System since the press release, it has seemed like a school year and a half has gone by. Needless to say, Nation Ford is thrilled to have this opportunity, and we have been working diligently to make our school and community proud.

Since the press release, our Public Relations team has been toiling tirelessly to get the word out about the grant and how the SNAS will be able to impact farmers both in the community of Fort Mill and in other parts of the world. On Tuesday November 27th, our InvenTeam presented before our district’s school board, presenting our progress thus far and reaching out to members of the community who may be willing to partner with us on this endeavor of a lifetime. This PR team is already prepping for several other presentations to include a breakfast with local business people in the first week in December, a Rotary Club meeting in January, and even our mid-grant review in February.

On the design front, we have encountered several challenges, but we are slowly, but steadily, surmounting them. We are currently working to build the hydroponic drip system for our plants and hope to start construction on the automated part of the Smart Nutrient Additive System (henceforth referred to as the SNAS) in the coming weeks. The website to which the SNAS is connected is also coming along smoothly, but we anticipate some challenges once we start needing to connect multiple probes for pH and selective ions to the system. Regardless, we are chomping at the bit to get started and face these challenges head-on.
If you wish to follow the Nation Ford InvenTeam on our progress throughout the 2019 InvenTeam grant cycle, follow us on Instagram at @nafo.inventeam and Twitter at @Nafo_InvenTeam.