Since the summer of 2016, a group of 12 innovative female students at San Fernando High School, known as DIY Girls, have been working together to invent a portable and sanitary solar powered tent for homeless people in Los Angeles.
"Basically what we did is build a portable shelter for the homeless. It's a tent that collapses into a backpack and it has solar panels and UV lights to sanitize the interior," Maggie Mejia told On Air with Ryan Seacrest on Tuesday, "and it has extra gadgets that we thought might be cool to include."
The invention received a $10,000 grant from The Lemelson-MIT InvenTeam, which is a sponsored program at the prestigious School of Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Part of their journey is to complete the project and present it at MIT's EurekaFest, "a multi-day celebration designed to empower a legacy of inventors through activities that inspire youth, honor role models, and encourage creativity and problem solving."
To get to Boston, the girls launched a GoFundMe page to raise $15,000 for travel expenses. Although the team already reached their goal, they are still accepting donations to help families pay for costs associated with getting them the proper identification (passports or state IDs) and transportation to and from the airport.
Thanks to Attorney James Bergener, the DIY girls were given an extra $1,500 to help them with their mission.