Young inventors help CdA 5YO

Five-year-old Barrett Limtiaco-Ruppel smiles as he is strapped into an remote controlled car by his mother Janai with help from Hannah Stowe,10, far left, Jonathan Stowe, 13, center, and Bear Coleman, 8, at Coeur d’Alene Makerspace/Gizmo in Coeur d’Alene on Wednesday, April 26, 2017. The kids helped design a car for Barrett, who suffers from cerebral palsy. (Kathy Plonka / The Spokesman-Review)

A dozen home-schooled students in Coeur d’Alene have been recognized for their work in modifying a child-sized remote-controlled car for 5-year-old Barrett Limtiaco-Ruppel, who has cerebral palsy.

The home-schoolers, who range in age from 8 to 13, have been participating in a “Let’s Science It” class through Gizmo, a nonprofit collaborative workspace, for the past seven weeks. It was recently announced that they were selected as runners-up – fourth place – among the 10,000 entries considered for the Inventor’s Challenge put on by the Imagination Foundation and AT&T.

But for Limtiaco-Ruppel, honors and awards were a secondary consideration Wednesday. His face broke into a wide grin as he was lifted into the car and strapped into place. His grin got even bigger as the students used the remote control to drive him slowly around the room/ Nina Culver, SR. More here.