NEWBURYPORT — Molin Upper Elementary School Principal Dave Archambault asked faculty and the business community last week a simple question: "What happens when you inspire more than 75 fifth-grade students to create an invention or new business idea?"

On Friday, Archambault was pleased with the answer.

"This is great — we have a lot of great ideas," Archambault said.

From eyeglasses fitted with windshield wipers to clear one's view in a rainstorm to a "sweet flavored gum" that was claimed to have the ability to bring about world peace, the second annual Young Entrepreneurs Contest showcased students' creativity.

The contest, sponsored by the Newburyport Education and Business Coalition as well as teachers Ellie Bailey, Mary Ann Daley and Carol Snow, included special exercises for students to go along with teaching students about business and sociology.

David Strand, president and owner of Strand Marketing, was brought into the Molin School to assist in creating and presenting the ideas that inspired entrepreneurship and encourage fifth-graders to come up with their own ideas about business.

Recently, Strand taught two 45-minute classes on his experiences in business and entrepreneurship.

"As part of learning about history and sociology, students were studying local entrepreneurs," Strand said. "I served as an example of a local entrepreneur and tried to create something which brought meaning to how business works."

In his classes, Strand broke students up into three group: bankers, retailers and T-shirt designers. The designers tried to sell their designs to retail stores and the stores took out loans from the bank.

"It really brought to life the idea of managing money, not just making it," Strand said, noting he also spoke about creating a practical product. "In 45 minutes it was pretty good, they really understood."

Friday's contest served as the final project to complete the unit, Strand said.

"This is just fantastic," Strand said while he judged. "You don't know the impact you have until you see it and it taught the students to be creative."

Nathan Robicandria of Ellie Bailey's class displayed his invention, a baseball cap that, at the push of a button, could change logo to correlate with whatever team was in the playoffs.

Another project by Max Brown in Carol Snow's class titled "My-Cod" was a favorite. The fish-shaped contraption would allow swimmers to listen to their iPods through a swimming fish when placed in a swimming pool.

Anieco Mutoz of Snow's class created a coffee mug fitted with an analog as well as a digital clock, Cassie Peterson displayed a solar-powered computer and Shane E. Thirkele created a design for a heated hockey skate.

Molin School faculty circulated through the room judging projects based on five categories: creativity, how well the design was depicted, text description, need and practicality. Projects were ranked on a scale from 1 to 5 in each category and the five projects with the highest scores were declared the winners.

"I think the projects are so creative," Strand said. "There are some real fun ideas here."

The winners of the projects were awarded with Strand's TZ Tees T-shirts.