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Youngstown student wins second place for invention
By Denise Dick
YOUNGSTOWN
Five times proved the charm for Chaney eighth-grader Lamar Underwood Jr.
Lamar, 13, won second place in Shearer’s Perfection Student Contest for Young Inventors.
He created a decorative tree. He cut up Shearer’s Potato Chip bags, shaping them into leaves and affixing them to a stem. The effect is a colorful decoration for a desk or coffee table.
Lamar knew he was a contest finalist and he, his mother, Andrea Griffin; grandmother and siblings and his seventh-grader teacher, Tina Felger, traveled in July to Shearer’s Massillon headquarters for a luncheon and ceremony. That’s where he learned he won second place, which came with a $2,500 savings bond.
“I was happy and shocked,” Lamar said.
He opted for the cash award, $1,250.
“I spent some of it, and I saved some of it,” Lamar said.
His mom and grandma were pleased, too.
“They were clapping,” he said. “They were happy.”
He created the tree last year while a seventh-grader at Discovery Transitions to Careers at Volney. He transferred this school year to Chaney’s science, technology, engineering and mathematics program.
He considered and even tried five other creations including a doghouse, a birdhouse and a barn house before settling on the tree concept.
“I thought it looked better,” Lamar said.
Lamar isn’t sure why the tree idea appealed to him, but he spends time outside.
His favorite school subject is science, and he debates whether to pursue a career as an engineer, a scientist or someone else who works with technology.
“I like technology,” Lamar said. Computers, video games — “I like all of it.”
The contest is sponsored by Shearer’s and National Museum of Education. Students from across Ohio and the Pittsburgh area enter the contest and 10 semi-finalists are chosen.
That list narrows to three finalists.
The contest’s website says winners are picked by a panel of scientists, business executives and educators. Entrants also write an essay with their inventions.
Judges select winners based on creativity, usefulness, benefit to society, cost effectiveness and clarity of essay.
Kevin Nunez, who was a Chaney STEM seventh-grader last year, was a semi-finalist for his Super Sock Hamper.
In 2015, Andre Floyd, a Chaney STEM sixth-grader, was a finalist, receiving $500.
The decorative tree sits on a side table at his house, and a certificate from the contest will hang on a living room wall.
At a school board meeting last month, Krish Mohip, district chief executive officer, presented Lamar with a plaque, recognizing the young man’s achievement. That will hang on his wall, too.
Lamar plans to enter again next year, but he hasn’t decided on his next invention. He likes expressing his creativity, but his main motivation is no-nonsense.
“I like the prize,” he said.