Middle-school students nationwide are challenged to stretch their imaginations to design and create an invention made with rubber bands for the first Rubber Band Contest for Young Inventors. The contest, open to students in grades 5 through 8, is hosted by the Rubber Division of the American Chemical Society (ACS), The University of Akron and its Akron Global Polymer Academy (AGPA), all based in Ohio. Sponsored by Alliance Rubber Co. of Hot Springs, Ark., and administered by the National Museum of Education, coordinator of the BubbleWrap® Competition for Young Inventors, the contest commemorates the 100th anniversary of the Rubber Division, ACS and the 100th anniversary of the world’s first rubber chemistry course, offered at Buchtel College (now The University of Akron). The deadline for entries is Nov. 14, 2008. Complete contest entry rules and details are available at www.rubberbandcontest.org.