Sun-powered sleeping bag? Eco-friendly fishing weights? Brevard teens invent way to DC contest

Two teams of young innovators from Brevard recently headed to the nation's capital with inventions meant to make the Space Coast — and the world — a better place.

The teens, from Bayside and Viera high schools, came home from the national Junior Achievement competition with renewed energy and big aspirations — and for one team, third-place honors.

The contest, held June 9 to June 13 in Washington, D.C., was organized by Junior Achievement USA, an organization that strives to prepare young people for the workforce by teaching work readiness, entrepreneurship and more, according to their website.

And after capturing top honors locally, these teens set out for D.C. to show what they'd learned.

Team Iskove, made up of three teens from Bayside High School, entered their Slumber Pack. It's a compact sleeping bag meant to help hikers and unhoused people alike.

Team GellyBuddies, comprised of two graduates from Viera High School, presented the GellyWeight, an alternative to the traditional lead weights fishermen use. This one uses more eco-friendly materials and even puts nutrients back into the water to help coral reefs.

With the Bayside team taking home third place out of a group of 10 finalists, all five teens have big plans for what they want to do with their inventions and how they want to make them available throughout the country.

A sleeping bag for a cause

Isabel Sharpe and her teammates, Velissa Singh and Konstantinos Kyparissiotis, attended the D.C. competition with the Slumber Pack, a compact sleeping bag that features solar-powered heating and phone charging.

It's a project the team from Bayside High School has been working on since late 2023 in an effort to give back to the community.

"Every time I drive to the grocery store, you always see homeless people on the side of the road," Sharpe said. "(We thought), 'What if we created something that would help people like that?'"

Their goal was to create something easily portable and versatile — a sleeping bag that can be used by anyone from those facing housing insecurity to hikers on the Appalachian Trail.

In addition to the heating and charging elements, the team took inspiration from clothing runners wear to help control the temperature of the Slumber Pack.

"It has a polyester filling, and the outside is made with mylar to be able to keep heat in," Sharpe said. "Inside is nylon so it's nice and cool, so you're not overheating yourself, and the inside also has little heating pads that are connected outside, so you can just plug that into the portable charger."

Fishing weights that help coral reefs

McKenzie Hibbett and her partner, Sarah Harris, went to the conference with the GellyWeight: an eco-friendly fishing weight meant to be used as an alternative to traditional lead weights for fishing.

The GellyWeight, Hibbett said, is made from a compound material that's a combination of limestone, calcium chloride and magnesium bisglycinate powder, with an outer coating of gelatin, calcium chloride and magnesium powder.

Not only is the weight healthier than lead, but the release of magnesium and calcium into the water is also beneficial for the ocean, Hibbett said.

"(They) help with coral reef sustainability and plant photosynthesis," she said.

It's a project that was inspired by Hibbett and Harris' love of the ocean and animals. Both graduated from Viera High School this year and are planning to major in biology. They're on track to begin their college career at Eastern Florida State College, then transfer to University of Florida.

The GellyWeight seemed like a natural fit for both of them.

"I've always been a big advocate for eco-friendly products, using products that don't do testing on animals and all of that," Hibbett said. "We wanted to create something that took a big issue that's harming our environment and our ocean life, and (find) an easy solution that can fix that, which is where the GellyWeights came into play."

What's next for the young inventors?

Getting to go to nationals was exciting for the two teams, and they were a huge support to one another, said Anne Conroy-Baiter, president of Junior Achievement of the Space Coast.

"These kids were technically competing against each other, but they cheered, rehearsed and coached each other at every opportunity," she said. "When Team Iskove won third place, it was GellyBuddies who were cheering the loudest. We can all be very proud of the integrity, intelligence and ambition of our Space Coast kids. JA is proud to be a small part of their success."

Right now, Sharpe and her team donates one sleeping bag to a Florida homeless shelter for every two that are purchased. The hope is to expand nationally. In March, at a Brevard JA competition, her team won the Women in STEM award, which provided them each about $800 to put toward their college tuition or the Slumber Pack.

Sharpe especially hopes to reach New York and California because of their homeless populations.

"I just want to be able to help as many people as I can, and being able to reach out more nationally would be a great step forward," she said.

After winning third place nationally, their next step is to look into getting a patent lawyer, Sharpe said.

Hibbett and Harris are hoping to make their product available throughout Brevard County. They're working with local investors, Hibbett said, and the product is currently patent pending.

"We really, really do hope to go nationwide, and we plan on doing that by just starting in advocating for our product," Hibbett said. "Speaking to people, telling them about how lead truly harms the environment, working with local investors and business owners like we are right now so that people start hearing about it."

Finch Walker is the education reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Walker at [email protected]. X: @_finchwalker.

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Brevard teens take novel ideas to DC contest: What did they invent?