KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Thursday was a restless night for teams competing in a reality TV show in Kansas City, Missouri.
Scientists, engineers, students and teachers from across the country are in a race against the clock to come up with an invention in 48 hours.
A team from Kansas City is competing on this season of the PBS show “Make48.”
Team Bright Ideas is from Operation Breakthrough. Two teachers from the nonprofit, a 10-year-old student and her mother make up the team.
It may sound intimidating, but DiEerin Jamison, who is in the fifth grade, is full of confidence going into the competition against experts.
“I get that a lot because in kindergarten I was the only five-year-old, but I was the best reader in kindergarten. So maybe being the youngest is more of a chance to win," Jamison said proudly.
On the TV show, teams get a category (this season is home and garage), then have 48 hours to come up with an idea, build a prototype and pitch the concept to a panel of engineers. All the while, video cameras film every move and PBS turns the competition into a TV show.
Jamison’s teachers don’t think the stage is too big for her, even though she will be the second youngest competitor.
“Maybe without those types of preconceived notions [from previous inventing experience] we will be able to have a clear vision on something that will seem useful and marketable right away,” said Damon Bradshaw, the digital media lab zone leader at Operation Breakthrough.
The competition takes place at Union Station, where the production team has set up several cameras to capture each move. The competition ends Saturday at noon, but you won't see the winner until the show airs in September on PBS stations across the country.
