LA Catholic school kids put on thinking caps for invention convention

A new initiative underway aims to turn LA Catholic school students into real-world inventors. 

The Archdiocese of LA’s C3 Thinker Tank has partnered with entrepreneurship program Lemelson-MIT and 12 local schools this year for the initiative, titled “Thinker Tank: Invents.” It aims to generate “natural curiosity” and “a creative and inventive mindset” among students and encourage them to produce inventions that solve problem(s) affecting “their family, community, or even people around the world.”

Student teams will work on their invention prototypes and presentations in the coming weeks to qualify to enter the “Regional Invention Convention” event, to be held March 25 at St. Dominic Savio School in Bellflower. Over 150 students from Catholic Schools in Long Beach, San Pedro, Lakewood, Lynwood, and South Los Angeles are expected to compete. 

Los Angeles is the first Catholic diocese to participate in California’s convention. Organizers hope that winners will be selected to participate in the state, national, and global “Invention Conventions” that will follow later this year.