On the eve of his 16th birthday, Greyson McCluskey from Indian Trail, North Carolina was named the national winner of Wouldn’t It Be Cool If…, a campaign jointly presented by Time Warner Cable’s philanthropic science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) initiative, Connect a Million Minds, and i.am FIRST, founded by artist, entertainer and entrepreneur will.i.am. The campaign challenged youth ages 10 – 15 to dream up the coolest idea to make their life, community or the world more awesome, and then to think about how science and math could help bring those ideas to life. Greyson McCluskey, an honor student and aspiring architect, developed his Baby Safe Rider – a mechanism for toddler car seats that would detect the onset of heightened temperatures in babies – as a way to address the rising incidents of vehicular Hyperthermia fatalities in the U.S. Greyson was inspired to create the Baby Safe Rider after the recent birth of his cousin. He entered the Wouldn’t It Be Cool If… contest after his mom saw a national public service announcement featuring will.i.am.
”I still can’t believe I won,” said Greyson McCluskey. “Time Warner Cable’s Wouldn’t It Be Cool If… contest has changed my life – from meeting will.i.am to winning the opportunity to travel to New York City to have my idea realized by Fahrenheit 212. I truly hope my story and those of the other finalists inspire kids just like us to have the confidence to share their own cool ideas with the world.”
Greyson was selected along with three finalists to present their ideas at the Wouldn’t It Be Cool If… finalist event in St. Louis, held on-site at the FIRST Robotics Championship in front of a live audience of nearly 1,400 youth and supporters. Greyson was voted the winner by a panel of esteemed judges that included Jasmin Hume, PhD candidate at Polytechnic Institute of NYU; Dean Kamen, esteemed inventor and founder of FIRST; Mark Payne, co-founder and President of Fahrenheit 212; and will.i.am, artist and STEM advocate.
