SANDPOINT — Budding inventors from Forrest M. Bird Middle School are D.C.-bound for the National Invention Convention and Entrepreneurship Expo May 19 through 21.

Three of eight Bird charter school students who won awards at the state competition in Boise have earned enough to fund their trips to the nation's capital, and a fourth is still working to put the required financing together. STEMIE, an educational coalition hosting the event, is subsidizing 50 percent of the hotel, transportation and registration fees for award-winning student inventors and their designated affiliate chaperones, according to NICEE.

Eighth-grader Garrett Hoyt will enter his invention entitled "The Floating Recycling Factory," a solar-powered barge system designed to collect and destroy floating plastic trash that threatens Pacific Ocean marine life. Seventh-graders Maureen Wardell and Alissa Colegrove teamed up on the invention they call "Cyclone," a wind-powered hovercraft, which they will enter in the finals as well. Each will bring a family member as a chaperone.

NICEE will take place at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in Alexandria, Va. Approximately 300 students from across the country will bring their inventions and/or ideas to compete for top awards via interviews with judges and peers, according to the NICEE website. Participation is by invitation only, and eligible participants must be in grades 4-12.

This is the first year Forrest M. Bird has sent students to the national Invention Convention. Sarah Evans, the science teacher who has worked with the students on their inventions and presentations, will not be in attendance.

"We have always done well at the state level," said Jennifer Greve, middle school principal, "but this is our first year (at the national contest)."

Students in each grade division will receive first, second and third place awards as well as recognition for the best pitch, logbook, poster and prototype. Category awards include agriculture, telecommunications, energy and transportation. Green/environmental and space exploration are among the special category distinctions. Student prototypes will be on display for public viewing during the convention.

STEMIE, which stands for science, technology, engineering and math linked to invention and entrepreneurship, is a self-described educational framework with the goal of introducing invention and entrepreneurship to 10 million students in all 50 states within five years.  Its other programs include City Jump Start and IP Industry Travel Sponsorship, according to the NICEE website.

Besides the convention activities, students and chaperones will be seeing a bit of the Washington area, too. They will have the chance to visit the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum where they will watch the IMAX film "Journey to Space."

"They have the students pretty well booked the whole time they are there," Greve said.