This spring, Menlo’s Design and Architecture class participated in the Cooper Hewitt National High School Design Competition, a national contest for high school students to submit design concepts addressing a specific design challenge. Out of hundreds of applicants, seniors Abby Doll and Grace MacDonald teamed up to earn one of 13 honorable mention accolades, and their submission will be featured in a special exhibition at the Cooper Hewitt Museum in New York.

This year’s design challenge to students was “what can you design that will solve a global issue/eliminate an environmental problem?” Inspired by this prompt, Abby and Grace worked as a team to visualize an idea for holding a six-pack of cans together as an alternative to the plastic rings many beverage manufacturers currently use. Their environmentally-friendly design features a handle made from coconut fibers that works in combination with an adhesive that holds the cans together. The design is both durable and fully recyclable.

“We’ve seen pictures of the animals with plastic rings around their necks [as in the film Happy Feet], and we wanted to do something to help [by] eliminating those plastic rings,” Grace said.

“It’s a big problem; the idea came to us after a lot of brainstorming,” Abby added.

Before submitting their design online, Abby and Grace sought feedback from their classmates. “In class, we did the presentation and were able to get feedback about what we could change,” Abby said. In submitting their design, they included their design drawing along with a short questionnaire that highlighted the design, the ideas behind it, and how it came about.

Menlo applied science teacher Marc Allard
shared, “This was the first time for Menlo to participate in the Cooper Hewitt competition so I told the kids to keep their expectations tempered. Needless to say, I was both surprised and elated when Abby and Grace were given an honorable mention.

He adds, “I loved that the girls addressed a significant environmental problem with a simple, elegant solution.”