POCATELLO — Two young inventors at Grace Lutheran were among the students who competed at the national Invention Convention in Dearborn, Michigan last month.

The convention took place on June 3-5 at the Henry Ford Museum. There were 513 inventors from over 30 states at the convention. The two Grace Lutheran students who competed were McKinley Young and Francie Lupo. Their teacher, Christine Casselman, said the competition starts at the regional and state level.

“Those girls were two of ten out of the state of Idaho that were selected to participate at the national level,” Casselman said.

The competition is stiff at the national convention. Casselman said neither of the girls received any awards for their inventions, but she is proud that they made it to that level.

“Just by attending this convention, it is an amazing honor,” Casselman said.

Casselman said it wasn’t a surprise that these two girls made it to the national competition. Both of them are hard workers that are not afraid to put in the effort to get a project done.

“These are two students put in above and beyond the work to make this happen,” Casselman said. “That trait will carry them far.”

Young’s project was called Handi-COP and was a device that would alert security and parking lot officials if someone was illegally parked in a handicapped spot, and Lupo’s project was called Kevlarra, which was a protective screen that can be used to protect students from a school shooter.

“Both did extraordinary amounts of research,” Casselman said. “They met with professionals to get feedback and input about their projects. They built really intricate 3-D models.”

Casselman said she is proud of her students and that their hard work paid off. She said going to the museum was a great experience for them.

“They treat these students like gold,” Casselman said. “They get the royal carpet. They get T-shirts, museum admission and special tours. They’re treated like royalty.”

Francie Lupo said working on her project could be long and tedious at times, but it was a good experience overall. Both girls enjoyed visiting the museum with their families. They were given access to the building even after it closed for the day.

“It paid off in the end,” Lupo said. “It was really good.”

McKinley Young said her project was also difficult to work on, but having the chance to go to the convention made it all worth it. She said it was great to have people supporting her through the whole process.

“It was a very long process of trial and error and figuring out what you’re going to do,” Young said. “But with support and family, it was really worth it.”