A group of Egg Harbor Township students are hoping their vision of the future helps their school's present technology.
The Dr. Joyanne D. Miller School is one of 10 schools throughout the country in the running for a $25,000 technology makeover courtesy of Lenovo’s Future Academy Traveling Storybook. Kelly Hunt, who teaches 142 gifted and talented fourth- and fifth-graders at Miller, knew it would take a lot of work to get the job done. But she also had faith in the six fifth-graders students picked to put together the project.
Ana Mytnik, Madison Gladney, Brianna LaChina, Jason DeNafo, Steve Slusarski and Ben Gettings say they enjoyed sharing their ideas to work toward the final project.
They built upon current technology to come up with an academic assistance wristband that would be matched to a student’s academic schedule.
There were also grade-level glasses allowing virtual interaction, with GPS to track them if they’re lost.
The Lenovo tablet — paying homage to the sponsor — with the power to project at a student’s desk, and which would integrate with the other two technologies.“It’s kind of what we have today, but more upgraded versions,” 11-year-old Ana said.
“I knew it was going to be heavy lifting,” Hunt said of the time constraints and work that included learning new equipment. Lenovo sent the computer that was used in a double-locked black box, Hunt said.
She enlisted the help of computer teacher Susan Slusarski — who also happens to be 11-year-old Steve’s mother.
The girls worked on the storyline with Hunt while the boys were on technology with Slusarski.
It also gave the computer teacher a glimpse of her son as a student.
“They worked really well together,” Slusarski said. “It couldn’t have gone any better.”
Each boy took lead on one of the three pieces: Jason the watch, Steve the glasses and Ben the tablet.
“I love coding,” said Ben, who was added to the group after Hunt let the other two boys add a third.
Were they right?
“Yes,” Jason and Ben, both 10, say in unison. Hunt was at school alone when she got notification that they were finalists. She said she walked around, trying to find someone to tell.
Then she reached out to the parents.
“I was jumping up and down and running around the house,” said Madison, 11.The Top 10 entrants were then given to professional animators, who put them together into a short video.
“I think we got a really good animator,” Ana said.
The group is confident in their work, despite some of the competition coming from high-schoolers.“It’s not about age, it just your creativity,” Ana said.
Now they’re asking the community to help push them through.
Each person can vote once per day. Voting ends March 19.
