E. KY Middle-Schoolers Point the Way to Their Future

Ashland is coal country, made filthy and unhealthy by the refineries and coal trucks and poverty.  But these kids - these students of a public school teacher in a public goddamn school - rose above all that to point the way.

From the Herald:

Students at Ashland Middle School won a $150,000 grand prize Wednesday in a national Samsung competition for inventing a device that helps people safely pick up dirty heroin needles.

 

The students hope their invention will help keep first responders and others safe in Boyd County, where staff at a local elementary school scan playgrounds every day for discarded needles.

Students who worked on the project said they are happy to be recognized for the invention and hope it is mass-produced and distributed across the country.

“We’re just super excited,” said Aubree Hay, an 8th grader at Ashland Middle School who worked on the project. “Getting our project out and more advertised especially, this is such a big deal for us. It’s a really good feeling.”

Not another dumb robot, this is something practical and necessary that solves an immediate public health and safety problem.

Too bad that Gov. "I Got Mine, Fuck You" and repug legislators are doing every thing they can to make sure those kids will flee Kentucky the second they graduate, and go to states that actually fund their public schools and turn out budgets that grow the economy instead of stripping it bare.