Gabriel Shuster and Meno Nassi, both 12, are getting a lot of attention for their “Floodictor” device, which monitors flooding in a house or other building.
In fact, the two seventh-graders at San Diego Jewish Academy in Carmel Valley are taking their project to the international CADENA Initiative USA Competition online on Sunday, June 1. They won the national award last month after beating out students from New York, Washington, D.C. and Miami.
The Floodictor was created in an elective CADENA class at their school.
“When we heard about Hurricane Katrina we both wanted to do something about it,” Gabriel said about the Category 5 hurricane that destroyed the Gulf Coast area in August 2005.
The boys, who both live in Poway, said the Floodictor has a sensor that signals when water is rising in a home or other building. When the water reaches the level of a flood, a light goes on and a buzzer sounds to alert the occupants.
“It sends a warning signal like air raid sirens that go off for nuclear bombs,” said Gideon Shuster, Gabriel’s father. “It sends a warning that there’s going to be a flood to alert people to get out and evacuate.”
CADENA is a Mexico-based organization that brings humanitarian aid for disasters and crisis to the Jewish community. The CADENA Initiative is a social entrepreneurship competition for middle school-aged students in which they propose and implement an innovative solution to a humanitarian crisis or disaster in a vulnerable community, officials said.
At the national convention the boys did a 3-minute, “Shark Tank”-style presentation, describing the devastating effects of flooding in the Lower 9th Ward in New Orleans and shared how their project is designed to build a community response when flood waters reach critical levels.
Gabriel said they learned about the design process and how to create a product that’s executable.
“We learned how to test and revise,” he said.
The boys were inspired by the Jewish principle of Tikkun Olam – repairing the world.
“Our project is … related to Tikkun Olam and the importance of helping people in need, like those who are victims of floods,” Gabriel said.
Meno said he and Gabriel are preparing for the international competition by brainstorming enhancements to their prototype Floodictor.
“We’re thinking about who our partners may be and what makes our product unique,” said Meno, who hopes he and Gabriel can implement their device in New Orleans. “We’re working on some more detailed plans on how we’re going to set up the Floodictor in the community we chose if we win.”
Meno said he was grateful for the assistance from teachers at school.
“The success of our project would not have been possible without the many teachers who helped us with the production of our prototypes and taught us about CADENA,” he said.
Patrick Hagarman, who chairs the San Diego Jewish Academy’s Science and Technology Department, said school s and staff are “extremely proud” of Meno and Gabriel.
“Their dedication and creativity reflect the values we try to instill in our students at San Diego Jewish Academy,” Hagarman said. “These types of real-world experiences, filled with mentorship and learning, help shape and develop our community’s future leaders who positively influence their communities and beyond.”
Separately, Gabriel was honored by the San Diego County Supervisors on April 22 for a study that tested the water qualities at 10 different county beaches, from Imperial Beach to Oceanside. At each beach he measured the water’s turbidity, coliform bacteria, pH level and oxygen level.
“I read an article that Imperial Beach was having bad water quality so I wanted to see if it was true,” Gabriel said. “I was trying to see which beach had the worst water quality.”
Gabriel spent several months comparing the water quality at the various beaches to determine if it was becoming cleaner or more polluted.
Once he determined that Imperial Beach had the highest level of contamination, he ed the Board of Supervisors to alert them to the situation.
“He did it as a call to action,” his father said. “It was a wake-up call to the Board of Supervisors that they need to do something about it.”
Gabriel said the water in Imperial Beach is getting contaminated by a nearby sewage treatment plant in Mexico. While the water quality is not extremely poor, he said, it is bad enough that people cannot safely swim there, he said.
“Contamination signs were posted on the beach,” he said.
Gabriel first presented his project at the Jewish Academy Environmental Science Fair on Feb. 6. He got an A for the project.
He also got the attention of the Board of Supervisors.
Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer, whose third supervisorial district spans the coastline from Carlsbad to Coronado, invited him to attend the supervisors’ meeting on Earth Day, April 22.
He received a letter of proclamation and spoke about his project.
“I was excited about it,” Gabriel said.
Although it’s a bit early for Gabriel and Meno to have specific college plans, they said they’re on the right track for their future career goals.
“I might want to be an inventor and scientist,” Gabriel said. “Right now I’m taking seventh-grade science and it’s fun.”
Meno, who said it’s fun to come up with ideas and research ways to solve problems, aims to become a mechanical engineer or biomechanical engineer.
“Whenever the science fair comes around and competitions like these are held, it’s very fun,” he said. “I’m definitely nervous but also excited about the international competition because I really enjoy seeing other people’s projects and ideas. I think it will be a great experience.”
