Greg Pallone, Your Kids

A group of Oviedo High School physics students are using a grant to find a way to protect the crops in freezing weather.

You could call it a mini, solar powered heating tent for citrus trees.

“I got some of my top students together and they did some brainstorming and one of the ideas is when citrus crops in Central Florida are destroyed by freezes,” said Troy Soos, a teacher at Oviedo High School.

“We only have to raise the temperature a few degrees to make a big difference,” said Nate Enos, a Physics student.

Oviedo is one of 16 InvenTeam's across the country, and the only from Florida, to receive a grant of almost $10,000 from the Lemelson-MIT Program.

The InvenTeam initiative is designed get high schoolers excited about invention through hands-on learning. That's just what these students here did, through research, determining just a 2 to 3 degree increase in temperature may save half a crop during a freeze. This means millions of dollars in citrus salvaged.

“We're trying to develop something that is low cost, so that one single crop saved will more than pay for the system itself,” sad Soos.

It's the brainchild of student Rachel Wheatley, who was driving through her neighborhood during a cold snap and noticed plants covered in plastic.

“I think if we all come together and try to do something that is really tangible and can be used in the environment and the world to keep crops from freezing,” said Wheatley.

The goal is to save crops and farmers' livelihoods. It’s an invention that grew here but could go all over, like the Florida citrus crop itself. 

The students’ inventions also included an alternative energy refrigerator for northern climates, and a sensing guide cane for the visually impaired.

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