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Well when I was little, I think I was in Kindergarten so I was about five years old,
I just did a lot of sit-ups. I don’t know why, but I liked sit-ups and I used to do it to
a tape called
Mousersize with Mickey Mouse and I
always had a problem with sit-ups because my feet would come up whenever I sat up. And
I’d always have to have my brother or my dad
hold my feet down and that was a pain for them. So I thought, “what could I do
to keep my feet down
by myself without having others help me
so i decided to come up with some kind of board
with a pad on it that held my feet down with straps
And I called that Sit-up Helper.
so i started with a piece of wood
and a pad on the top of so it would cushion my back
and then I put straps with buckles on it and where I slid my feet in through
and I
I just clipped them and it kept my feet down . And then the other board that was attached to my back
came up with me
and hinged. We couldn’t
actually hinge it because
it wouldn’t fold all the way up
so we used more straps and that way when I came up, my feet stayed down
and I could do a fine sit-up by myself.
I
with my parents help because I was so young I went online and I looked under patent resources
and I looked to see
if there were any other invention similar to that or
like it at and I couldn't find any and I asked some other people too
whether they had seen or heard of some anything like that and then there was nothing like
It came, like, right to me, all I needed to know was
what kinds of materials to use so that it be a comfortable sit-up, a regular sit-up to do
other things like
what should I clip it with, what’s gonna hold sturdy, what’s gonna be the easiest to take around.
Will it be portable, or will it
it just be a big thing, hunky thing, you can’t carry around.
I was like five so it was
so it was kind of like jumping in, cause I was so excited. I was like “whoa! This is a good idea!”
and then my school had the invention convention like it does every other year
and I decide to do it for that and with that you have to do a lot of notes
I kind of started it
and then as I kept building it and improving it and finding different ways to change it, I added
more and more notes
it was like a packet and you would just follow it step by step what you need to do everyday you draw
a picture of maybe what you've worked on that day and write down some notes of what you've
noticed there recognized while you were working on your invention
and then the and you put them all together and you hand that and with the poster in
that was a big help 'cause it was kind of like a guideline to help you through your invention thought process
I looked for a patent and things and nothing was there and
while I was making it I tried to see if it was more similar to other things and it wasn’t
it was a completely original idea and there was nothing like it at the time
We had to get the different
products that things that would
help build it and assemble
assemble that then try it out then reassemble again and just the whole testing part testing
and retest and
there's always a way make something better
it just works like that you just keep going and you keep testing and when something doesn't
work you try different thing
and then you find a way how it comes out the right way
I won for the school
and then they said you thing you invention is going to be in Invent America which is the
national competition
so that near invention sent out and than a year later I got a call saying that i had
won the national competition
for my grade and
that was and I got a $1000 savings bond and that was
bout the end of it
My mom was a big help she was such a big role
when it comes to inventing
'cause she is one of the people that influenced me the most when I invent 'cause she comes
up with stuff all the time and
just watching her and being able to learn from what she does it really helped me
cuz i was
young and i looked up to her and I said well that's cool she can make some things I want
to make something
and so she ended up helping me a little bit I mean I came up with the idea on my own but
she helped me think through it and
write some of the notes and it was she was mostly the main influence
the first was the hardest cuz you you're unsure of what top start with
or to going after you find something out
but now that I'm more aware of the things you need to do and to sart out
it's a lot easier you find an idea you think out it you look it up then you write some notes on it
you try to create a itself something goes wrong write more notes and
just keep going until it works
it's important not give up you have to be determined you have to be ambitious
when you're working on an invention it's important
to keep going
like you can't stop at all
you just
you have to find a problem and solve it there is always of way to make something better
so you can improve improve improve
it was such a great experience learning how to start something and end it
like you know how to start something you know how to work your way through and you know how
how to end it
it's just a great experience knowing you can do something think of something and then just
make it come alive just make it
how you wanted it to be and
it is just a really great experience