Student takes homework app to national stage
SHELTON — One inventive intermediate school student is hoping to make forgetting homework assignments a thing of the past.
Eighth-grader Marissa Manzo’s invention, Forget Me Knot, is a homework app that allows students to access their scheduled homework with a simple tap on their smart phone. Manzo’s creation was so impressive she is among 108 inventors from 76 schools in the state to advance to the nationals of the U.S. Invention Convention to be held online this month.
“I never coded before … I never really liked it, but this project really has made me more interested,” said Manzo. “It has been tough at times, but it has been fun.”
Manzo’s Forget Me Knot is a phone and tablet app which operates on Android, but she is continuing her efforts to make it work with iPhone and Apple products.
The app idea sprang from her hope of providing easier access to the school’s homework hotline. She said teachers put all the homework through the phone hotline, and students simply have to call the number to get the work.
“Lots of kids were not calling, so I thought something like this app would help,” said Manzo. “The app takes the data and directly imports it into the app. All a student has to do is click on every day, and they will get all the homework.”
With all students now working from home during the pandemic, Manzo sees the app as a benefit for those who are using their cell phone all day. The one remaining issue remains making it work with Apple products, she said.
“Android is the platform I had to use, and not many people have that, so I am working on converting to iPhone. It is harder than I thought … I am having to recode the whole thing,” said Manzo.
To access real experience in coding, Manzo said, she watched hours of YouTube tutorials and got some assistance from her father, Scott, an engineer. The result — the app is available on GooglePlay and she placed second in the SIS
Invention Convention, moved to states and now to nationals.
“I’m getting really positive feedback,” said Manzo.
Manzo’s mother, Christine, said she is proud of her daughter’s invention success, considering she has had to teach herself through a difficult creation process.
“Marissa is a very motivated student and after having taught her two older brothers, it runs in the family,” said Tim Gilson, Marissa’s eighth grade science teacher.
“After doing a brainstorming session where students present ideas to the whole class for critique, Marissa decided the app might be a good idea,” added Gilson.
Gilson said Manzo did plenty of “independent learning, teaching herself how the program worked.
“I would help her as much as I was able,” said Gilson. “We would check in and troubleshoot problems. Marissa’s father was also helping her troubleshoot problems at home, but ultimately Marissa did the majority of this on her own, researching ways to fix her problems as they came.”
After the Science Expo where she advanced to state level, Gilson said others joined in helping Manzo get the concept to work live.
“I finally realized she needed to have editing rights to the file. She was ‘view only’ from a student standpoint, so because she is such a trustworthy child, I gave her editing rights. And that (solved) the problem.”
Since then, Gilson said, he has reached out about updates and changes and even emailed the link to the app out to the school’s staff team, parents and students to use.
“Currently, it’s only available on Androids, but it is a great thing,” said Gilson.
Manzo is among four Shelton students, another two from SIS, who advanced through the Connecticut Invention Convention competition to the online Nationals event.
Seventh grade Alexander Baneat and eighth grader Luke Sanborn, both of SIS, and Krishiv Patel of Perry Hill School are also representing Shelton schools.