Inventor of the Year expands on laundry chute idea
by JESSICA L. FINCH Associate Editor

Nathan Senick Albanese, in the science room at Kadimah School at Buffalo was named the Middle School Inventor of the Year for his three-way laundry chute (not shown) at the WNY Invention Convention. He said he has always enjoyed science and building things.

Ten-year-old Nathan Senick Albanese is not just an award-winning inventor, but one with a good heart.

The fifth-grade student at the Kadimah School of Buffalo was named Middle School Inventor of the Year at the 2007 Western New York Invention Convention held on April 28 at the Buffalo Convention Center.

"It was my first year in the competition," he said. "I didn't think I would win ... I thought I might maybe win a prize."

In honoring a Jewish tradition, Nathan was unable to attend the judging at the convention center but received an extremely excited phone call from his science teacher, Anna Martinick.

"She called us and she was extremely happy. She said (Kadimah) took five places, and Nathan was the inventor of the year" Darlene Senick, Nathan's mother, said.

If not for Nathan's teacher, it would have been a title he never would have achieved.

"At first I didn't want to participate," he said, but the project was required by Martinick. "It was my first year (in the contest), and I didn't have any ideas."

But Nathan came up with an award-winning idea - a three-way laundry chute.

"I really couldn't believe it," Nathan said about being Inventor of the Year. "I asked (Martinick) 'Are you joking?' I was really shocked."

This year's theme was to focus on an invention to solve a common problem that would help others.

Nathan said he came up with the idea after watching his mom try to sort all the family's laundry that was on the floor. His three-way chute holds three different loads of laundry so the colors don't become mixed. When someone is ready to do a load, they open the door on the bottom of one of the chutes and the laundry, already sorted, falls into a basket.

For the competition, Nathan created a prototype out of transparencies, the sheets of plastic used in overhead projectors, and cardboard. After trying other materials, he determined those were the most lightweight and efficient to demonstrate his idea.

Senick said she wasn't surprised by her son's idea because he has always been a good person and thoughtful of others.

The judges also recognized the efficiency of the invention, making the following comments: "Very practical, could see it has obvious application in a home. The model shows how it would work."

Although only two students are named Inventors of the Years - one elementary student and one middle school student - 25 were named winners.

Also recognized from Kadimah were sixth-grader Joshua Fitt, whose idea was pads on a ladder to protect one's feet; sixth-grader Phillie Appleton, who created a backpack for snowboards; fifth-grader Anna Pressman, whose idea was a spoon with a thermometer to avoid burning one's mouth; and fifth-grader Jacob Dubin, who created an all-in-one toothbrush and "flosser."

The winners are invited to represent WNY at the New York State Invention Convention to be held in Schenectady in June.