Hamden Fifth-Grader Wins National Invention Convention Award

HAMDEN, CT — A Hamden elementary school student recently won a top honor at the National Invention at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. Aedan Flanagan, a fifth-grader at Spring Glen Elementary School, won the Environmental and Sustainability Industry Innovation Award for his invention of “SipBit," a reusable straw that can be worn as a bracelet. Flanagan previously won at the state competition to qualify for the national convention.

“What a creative idea - and one that helps our environment!,” reads a post on the school district’s website. “Congratulations Aedan, you are a wonderful ambassador for our town, and proof that great things are happening in Hamden!”

Mayor Curt Balzano Leng also proclaimed Friday, June 14 as “Aedan Flanagan Day” in Hamden. Aedan spent the last two years going to school in Ireland where he became interested and involved in programs that were focused on the environment. He wanted to bring some of the focus back to Hamden.

After learning the U.S. uses approximately 390 million plastic straws per day, Aedan decided to focus on single-use plastic straws – which is an issue the town of Hamden is also focusing on addressing. He decided to the school’s Invention Convention program to address the straw problem.

“Aedan quickly identified that the problem wasn’t that there was a lack of options for reusable straws,” according to the proclamation. “The problem was that once purchased, people forgot to bring them with them when going to restaurants. His solution was to build a wearable straw that people would want to wear and therefore have with them when needed. He invented the ‘SipBit.’ Over the next few months he built a number of prototypes to demonstrate a viable product to fit the problem.”

After winning the national honor, Aedan is now focused on “leveraging his passion to make sure that people understand that each person, regardless of age or resources, can impact the bigger picture.”

“He is working to bring the straw to market with an incubator team, in a way that promotes the larger discussion that sustainability is a journey,” according to the proclamation.

Read the full proclamation below: