Our A+ Award goes to a student who invented a special pencil, to improve the mental health of other young people. Junior Halina Tri-Leanza, of North Royalton High School, won first place in the Ohio Invention League's Invention Convention.
Halina constructed a sensory pencil as her submission to help students with learning difficulties. The pencil encourages focus in the classroom and helps students who have anxiety, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, which we also call ADHD. For example, one part of the pencil is squishy, so a student can squeeze it if they're feeling fidgety.
Halina said she was inspired in part by both of her parents who work in the mental health field. Halina also calls her sophomore year English teacher, Michelle Kovach, a great inspiration to her.
So what was Halina's favorite part of the project? She said she really liked coming up with different models, and kind of figuring out what she wanted to fit onto one pencil because it's not that much room to work with. She's right.
Halina has a passion for STEM, her dream is to go to MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and study computer science, or computer engineering. Maybe she'll invent more things that will help our society in the future.
Her words of advice for all of you who might have a lot of interest, she says, join as many clubs as you can, especially in middle school, and high school, to see what you're interested in.
Great job, Halina. We are certainly proud to award you with this week's A+ Award, and applaud your sense of discovery, and exploration.
Submit your ideas for our NewsDepth A+ segment to newsdepth@ideastream.org for consideration.
