May is National Inventors Month. We’re Celebrating Inventionland Students Who Became Real-World Inventors
National Inventors Month is a time to celebrate ideas, creativity, and the students who turn problems into solutions. At Inventionland Education, it is also an opportunity to highlight what sets the program apart. Students are not only learning about innovation. They are actually becoming inventors, with some earning real licensing agreements for their work.
Over the past two years, four student teams have taken that step from classroom concept to marketplace reality.
One of the most recognized examples is the No Cry™ Hair Tie, created by Mia Mertz and Madison Mulato from Grove City Middle School. Their invention solves a simple but frustrating problem. Traditional hair ties pull and snag, producing discomfort. Their design offers a smoother, pain-free alternative. After developing their idea through the applied STEM course and refining it through the invention process, the product earned a licensing agreement and is now sold online through major platforms.
Another team from Grove City Middle School, Ethan Cooke, Elijah Lawson, and Gavin Purdy, developed the Needle Guard. Athletes often lose or break the small pump needles used to inflate sports balls. Their solution protects the needle and securely stores it. Like the No Cry Hair Tie, their product moved beyond the classroom and secured a licensing agreement, showing real commercial potential. It will be available for sale this year.
In 2025, Olivia Adams and Samantha Preist added to that momentum with their invention, The Untie Not. Anyone who has dealt with constantly untied shoelaces understands the problem. Their small, lightweight device keeps knots secure without changing the shoe itself. After winning first place in the middle school division of the national competition, their product entered final development and is being prepared for a global release.
Innovation is not limited to one region. The Amazing Lid, developed through the Jordan Youth Innovation Project in partnership with student innovators overseas, addresses a global need. The design focuses on creating a coffee mug lid that adjusts for different sizes. It is now available for sale worldwide. This highlights how the same process can be applied across students in K-12 schools.
What connects all four of these teams is not just creativity, but process. Students follow the real-world 9-step inventing method that replicates how products are developed at Inventionland for its corporate and individual inventors. In the Inventionland Education class, student groups identify problems, prototype solutions, test ideas, and present their work to a panel of judges at the end of the course. The outcome is not purely a project that earns a grade. In some cases, it becomes a product that reaches the global marketplace.
For educators and school leaders, this represents a shift in what student work can look like. It moves beyond theory and into application. It shows that middle school students, when given the right structure and environment, can produce ideas with real value.
National Inventors Month is about possibility. These students show what happens when that possibility is taken seriously and supported with the right tools and expectations.