Students headed to national competition

Three students from the Kettering City Schools were winners at the 2018 Ohio Invention Convention & Entrepreneurship Competition and are headed to the national competition, to be held in May 2019.

The inventions of Lena Buskard, Stella Toth, and Grady Meekin, came out on top when the three competed at the state level at Ohio State University on July 29.

A fifth-grader at Prass Elementary, Stella created “The Cupcake Claw,” a set of tongs specially designed for picking up cupcakes so that as much icing as possible is retained on the cupcake and your hands are kept clean.

“Nat Charge,” a cell phone charger that works off solar power or wind power, is the brainchild of Lena, a fourth-grader at Oakview Elementary.

A fourth-grader at Prass Elementary, Grady created “Squirty No-No,” a device that can be placed in any lunchbox and enables the user to safely open a fruit cup without making a mess.

The students are part of the Kettering City Schools’ Invention League. Invention League is a non-profit organization that promotes problem-solving via the invention process. Through IL, the students have the opportunity to compete for recognition, scholarships and prizes through events like the state and national Invention and Entrepreneurship Conventions.

Lena, Stella and Grady will also be sharing their inventions as participants in the Ohio School Boards Association’s annual Capital Conference in Columbus in November.