[298] MTSU Welcomes Grade-Schoolers To 19th Annual Convention

CONTACT: Tom Tozer, 615-898-2919, or ttozer@mtsu.edu.

MTSU WELCOMES GRADE-SCHOOLERS TO 19th ANNUAL CONVENTION
Students Demonstrate Inventions Feb. 17; Guest Speaker is Son of Play-Doh inventor

(MURFREESBORO)—The spirit of invention will once more lead area grade-schoolers to brainstorm and create in honor of this year’s Invention Convention, an annual event that will be held Thursday, Feb. 17, in MTSU’s Murphy Center.
Now in its 19th year under the direction of event founder Dr. Tracey Ring, professor of elementary and special education at MTSU, the invention-filled activity can trace its roots back to Ring’s own mom.
“My mother did this when she taught fifth grade at a private school,” Ring said, referring to the impetus for child-centered endeavor. “(And) after she retired, I decided to do it on a bigger scale.”
Today, the Invention Convention, sponsored by State Farm Insurance, draws more than 300 young participants from schools across middle Tennessee, said Ring, who opens the conference to area students in fourth, fifth and sixth grades from public and private schools and local home schools.
During the yearly event, young inventors compete against others in their grade level in two contest categories—“Games” and “Something to Make Life Easier”—and division winners are given awards for first through third place. In addition to those trophies, judges give credence to student projects with special significance, Ring said.
“We give a Judge’s Favorite award to a kid with a really unusual project who didn’t get a trophy in his or her category,” she explained. “We also give an award for the best presentation.”
Participants must create presentations as well as working models of their inventions. Ring said the pressure to develop functioning models pushes children to stretch their creativity and makes their feat more impressive.
“You find that most kids make games, usually ones that help them learn what they’re studying in school,” she noted. “Also, in recent years I’ve seen a shift to more technological inventions.”
Special guest speaker for the event will be Norm McVicker, the son of Play-Doh inventor Noah McVicker, who was featured a few weeks ago in The Daily News Journal.
Aside from the children’s featured inventions, Ring said, “Each year, I pick an everyday object of interest, and feature it. We make a poster about it, so people can learn about its background. This year, we’re focusing on—what else?—Play-Doh.”
For more information on the Invention Convention, please contact Ring at 615-898-5500 or via e-mail at tring@mtsu.edu.

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• ATTENTION, MEDIA: To request an interview with Invention Convention creator Tracey Ring, please contact Tom Tozer in the Office of News and Media Relations at ttozer@mtsu.edu or by calling 615-898-2919.

Founded in 1911, Middle Tennessee State University is a Tennessee Board of Regents institution located in Murfreesboro and is the state’s largest public undergraduate institution. MTSU now boasts one of the nation’s first master’s degree programs in horse science, and the Council of Graduate Schools in Washington, D.C., acclaims MTSU’s Master of Science in Professional Science degree—the only one in Tennessee—as a model program. Recently, MTSU unveiled three new doctoral degrees in the sciences.