By Nicole Rodriguez

PHOTO BY ALEX BOERNER, TREASURE COAST NEWSPAPERS

ALEX BOERNER/TREASURE COAST NEWSPAPERS Pilar Castillo, 84, shakes hands with Jensen Beach Elementary School student Cole Andre, 7, as Castillo and other visitors from the Kane Center in Stuart leave the elementary school after meeting with students on the S.M.A.R.T. Lab Northwest team Wednesday morning in Jensen Beach. The S.M.A.R.T (Science, Math, Art, Research & Technology) Lab group is building robots to tackle an obstacle course with challenges designed to raise awareness of issues important to seniors. The students also met with the seniors to get ideas on how to improve the design of grabbers used to pick up items.

MARTIN COUNTY — A new program for elementary students in Martin County allows youth to form bonds with senior citizens and brainstorm innovative ways to help their elderly friends with the daily challenges that often come with old age.

The Education Foundation of Martin County launched the new robotics program in late August, following in the footsteps of the World Champion high school SPAM program. The high school team, whose name stands for South (Fork), Pratt And Martin — the Pratt is for Pratt & Whitney, its local business sponsor — receives guidance from about 10 mentors, mostly professionals in computer science and engineering, but must do all the work themselves.

Martin County gifted enrichment teacher Jollyn Nolan heads the new elementary program. The four teams consist of 36 students ages 6 to 11. Participating schools are Felix A. Williams, Pinewood, Jensen Beach, Port Salerno and Warfield Elementary. Nolan visits each school once a week for two hours to coach students.

Nolan, a 23-year Martin County teaching veteran, said this year's theme is senior solutions. She said students have bonded with seniors from the Kane Center over cookies and lemonade. The seniors were bused into the schools to speak with students, Nolan said.  

"First we talked to the seniors and found out some of the issues they were facing," Nolan said. "One of the main reasons they can no longer live independently is because they forget they leave food on the stove or in the oven."  

So students came up with a motion detector on the back of the stove," Nolan added. "If no one stirred the pot in 15 minutes, an alarm will sound to either remind the senior or turn the oven off."

Nolan said the students' hard work will come to fruition during a Dec. 8 competition at South Fork High School. A total of 503 teams from throughout the state are registered for the competition. The two older teams must show a working prototype model of their invention. The younger teams will create a model made out of LEGO pieces.

Other creations students are exploring include a mechanical device that can put a senior's shoe on without the need to twist the ankle, allowing for a less painful experience for those with arthritis.

Nolan said much of the inspiration comes from the students' own grandparents. She added one student wants to create a luggage carrier that also functions as a walker so her grandmother can have support and carry her bags onto an airplane without an added baggage fee.

Students have been having such a good time brainstorming that they even want to skip what many students consider their favorite part of the day."

Many of my classes want to skip recess," Nolan said. "They say, 'No, no, let's stay in."

The addition of the new elementary robotics team coincides with the Education Foundation's 20th anniversary. The foundation's executive director, Lisa Rhodes said the new program is an innovative way to celebrate what the organization stands for.  

"It's exciting to promote learning. We're just thrilled with this program," Rhodes said. "We're building that math and science pipeline from elementary to the high school level early before the students have a preconceived notion that they don't like or aren't good at the subjects."

PHOTO BY ALEX BOERNER, TREASURE COAST NEWSPAPERS

ALEX BOERNER/TREASURE COAST NEWSPAPERS Jensen Beach Elementary School students participating in the S.M.A.R.T. Lab program show visitors from the Kane Center how the robots they created work their way through an obstacle course with challenges designed to represent senior-related issues. From left are Margaret Noe, of Jensen Beach, Brock Glover, 9, Cole Andre, 7, Blair Stoneburg, 8, Charlotte Simpkins, CNA, and Jim Conway, of Hobe Sound. On Dec. 8, the students will compete in a challenge, titled Senior Solutions at South Fork High School, which has 503 teams registered from throughout Florida.

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