Clinton-Massie Elementary student Emily Webb represented Ohio at the National Invention Convention and Entrepreneurship Expo (NICEE) in Washington, D.C. this month.

Her invention, Emily’s Blackberry Picker, was selected by Ohio’s Invention Convention, which advanced her to the national level.

Emily’s hard work earned her third place nationally in the K to second-grade age group. As a kindergartner, she was one of the two youngest inventors invited to participate this year.

Her pitch video also caught the interest of The New Yorker magazine, which interviewed her and several other young inventors for an upcoming piece. She was one of three K-2 inventors from their online competition invited to participate in the nation’s capital with the older students.

Emily was part of a delegation of students from Ohio to attend NICEE, which was held at the headquarters of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

“It was a unique opportunity,” said Amber Webb, Emily’s mother. “There were around 300 students from all over the United States, all very talented inventors. We got to meet a lot of interesting people.”

Webb learned about inventing from the school’s intervention specialist, Jen Molitor.

This was Clinton-Massie’s first year participating in Invention Convention, and it was a learning process for everyone involved. Twenty-one students from Clinton-Massie were also invited to compete in Ohio’s state convention, coming up July 30 at the state fair.

The Blackberry Picker is Webb’s first invention, but it won’t be her last.

“I made it so Mommy wouldn’t get stuck in the blackberry bush with the bees and cicadas,” explained Emily.

Ohio’s Invention Convention program is part of a larger national movement to teach inventing in the classroom.For more information, please visit www.stemie.org.