INPERSON
Welcoming Creativity
BY NICOLE TAFE
Eden Hall Upper Elementary ’ s Brandon Wees designs and creates a high-tech visitor kiosk .
Understanding Eden Hall Upper Elementary School became a little bit easier for visitors this year thanks to sixth-grader Brandon Wees and his high-tech visitor kiosk .
Brandon , 12 , is the son of Kristi and Kevin Wees . His favorite subjects include math and science and his favorite teachers are Mrs . Conti and Mr . Harlan . “ Mrs . Conti is really energetic about math and Mr . Harlan tells really funny jokes and stories ,” he says .
Brandon is part of the morning announcements production team and Ancient Egypt and Science Enrichment classes . In his spare time , he enjoys programming and designing gadgets on his home 3D printer . He recently finished a FIRST LEGO League ( FLL ) season with his team “ The Bot Boys ” and won first place in the Project Presentation category . Brandon also participates in the NERF Warrior Challenge at CDG Sports and was involved in the Maker Faire Pittsburgh this past fall , where he shared some of his inventions at a vendor booth .
At Eden Hall , Brandon designed the visitor kiosk as part of the Sustainable School Initiative , which is offered to those in the gifted program . Eden Hall partners with Chatham University Falk School of Sustainability to educate students about sustainable features of a school and sustainable living , and collaborate on projects aimed at getting students to learn more about design solutions around those concepts . “ The Sustainable School Initiative is designed to educate by bringing awareness to the student body , and to leave the world better than we found it ,” says Eden Hall Upper Elementary School gifted education teacher Joanna Sovek .
“ I realized we didn ’ t really have anything at Eden Hall to educate visitors about the school ,” says Brandon . “ Since I ’ m good at programming , I decided the project would be a perfect fit for me .” He set to work during his fifth-grade year when he was asked to create something that would help the school in some way as part of an assignment . The project lasted into the first quarter of this year . Brandon applied for and was awarded a $ 750 grant by the Pine-Richland Opportunity Fund to support his work .
The first step of the process was to write a grant proposal and Brandon was assisted in this effort by Mrs . Sovek and another gifted education teacher , Jennifer Kopach . They proofread and edited the grant proposal and helped him submit the necessary materials . In addition to the proposal , Brandon had to design the kiosk and software , build , program
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