Young minds harness, display their creativity

Hundreds turned out at the Oceanside Library on May 13 to see amazing inventions dreamt up by sixth-grade students in the Oceanside School District’s Project Extra program.

The annual event culminated a couple months of preparation by the students and their teacher, Angela Abend. The students followed the Engineering Design Process — ask, imagine, plan, create and improve — in order to complete their inventions. They also created logos, slogans, commercials and QR codes.

“They were given a chance to solve a problem of their choosing, express their creativity in solving that problem, and had to follow a specific design process in order to create their solution,” Abend said. “Once completed, they had to switch hats to sell their solution by creating various marketing materials.” 

For two hours, on a Saturday, the students then had a chance to step out of the classroom and share their work with residents of the Oceanside community.

“It is important for the students here in Oceanside to have an opportunity to share their work with a greater audience,” Abend said. “…On the day of the convention, it was amazing to see it come all together. The student inventors rose to the occasion and represented themselves with a great sense of confidence and grace.  It truly was a wonderful day.”