AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ACE Academy, Austin’s independent school for gifted learners, is proud to announce ACE Innovation Day with a proclamation from Mayor Lee Leffingwell and the City of Austin. The recognition comes in honor of the second annual ACE Innovation event featuring awe-inspiring student inventions and entrepreneurships. Taking place from 2 to 5 p.m. on Saturday, April 16, at ACE Academy (3901 Shoal Creek Blvd., Austin, TX), the event is open to the public and free to children under age five - general admission is $5.
Coinciding with World Creativity and Innovation Week, young inventors from ACE Academy will showcase patent-worthy prototypes of original ideas with presentations featuring the full inventive process, from their initial spark of inspiration to the marketing and financing for their invention. "In Austin, our young people are our greatest asset," said Mayor Lee Leffingwell. "We must continue to encourage our youth to innovate, explore and research. ACE Academy has provided a terrific opportunity for Austin's youth to discover new horizons."
University of Texas Professor of Innovation, Dr. Robert Metcalfe, will guide and inspire students as a guest speaker for ACE Innovation. Professor Metcalfe, co-inventor of Ethernet and recognized as an icon in entrepreneurial engineering, will discuss taking the “no” out of “innovation” and share advice with Austin’s youngest talent pool of innovators. Global Entrepreneurship will also be a highlighted topic with a panel moderated by intellectual property attorney, William N. Hulsey III, featuring international entrepreneurial panelists from multiple countries.
In addition to student inventor presentations and enterprises, the event will offer hands-on, educational activity tables and workshops including physics demos from the UT Physics Club, Robots and LEDs from CozmicFunk Studio, rocket demos, a Van de Graaff generator from Austin Energy, unique electronics instruments from Delptronics, and other science, technology and sustainable energy displays. Rounding it all out will be performance art and an artisan food and craft market.
The mission of ACE Academy is to teach, support, affirm, and nurture gifted learners of all ages. ACE Academy offers hands-on, innovative classes that keep students moving at a pace and depth that engages and inspires them. Offering a flexible and customized approach to education that is rare among schools, ACE attracts a remarkable faculty and staff of well-educated, gifted grownups, as well as families who move to Austin for the school.
Austin Gifted is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization supporting gifted learners through gifted education, summer programs, assessment services, professional development, and its research and resource center. Austin Gifted is home to Summer Wonders, an award-winning specialty summer program, and ACE Academy, Austin’s only full-time independent school for gifted children. Founded in 2005, ACE Academy offers an integrated academic curriculum for grades Pre-K to high school in flexible groupings with an emphasis on helping students realize their intellectual, emotional, social, and creative potential. Additional information is available at: www.austingifted.org.