Sioux Falls Middle Schooler’s Clever Invention For ‘Back-Saving Binder’

School officially started this past week in Sioux Falls, and before the school year even started, a Edison Middle School student created a device to help her carry her belongings from class to class.

Allie Weber, a sixth grader, quickly discovered that in middle school, you aren’t allowed to carry your backpack with you from class to class. Instead, you have to rely on stopping at your locker between classes or carrying your books and binder with you all day.

Those binders, which hold classwork for many different subjects, certainly can be heavy and quite awkward to carry. Plus, most don’t come with any kind of strap to make it easier to tote.

This caused Weber to begin researching what effect lugging big binders around has on the body. Middle schoolers are still developing, and this can be awful on their posture. She had the ingenious idea of taking an old backpack and using the straps to create a two-shoulder removable strap. She calls it the “Got Your Back Binder Strap.” Pretty clever.

Although it may have the feel of a backpack, the binder is still allowed in schools.

“I just figured out how to make a binder into a backpack without breaking school rules,” Weber told the Argus Leader.

The part of the strap that sits on the back of the child’s neck attaches to the middle of the spine on the binder. She used carabiners at the bottom of each strap to attach it to the sides of the binder, which already have hooks in place.

Weber even met with a chiropractor, Trent Gusso, to discuss her plans before she created it. Gusso told her that it certainly is effective, for it evenly distributes the weight of the binder on both shoulders.

Weber is no rookie when it comes to inventing things on her own. Earlier this year, she won first place in the Smithsonian’s ‘Spark! Invent It Challenge.’ She had developed a warning system for frostbite, and a robot she actually designed in first grade. The latter also landed her first place in a school science fair.

She plans on continuing to design and invent in the future.

“I always imagined I’d be on Shark Tank,” she continued to the Argus Leader.

Allie, we wish you the best of luck in your future inventions! You are one smart kid.

Source: The Argus Leader

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