[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 72 (Thursday, June 8, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1077]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               TRIBUTE TO WEST SALEM HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

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                          HON. DARLENE HOOLEY

                               of oregon

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, June 8, 2006

  Ms. HOOLEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize four students from 
West Salem High School in Salem, Oregon. These four students--Stefanie 
Gille, Amy Hafer, Tyler Klarr, and John Mai--won the Toshiba/National 
Science Teachers Association ExploraVision program, Grades 10-12 
category. Their winning project, ``The Human Touch,'' is a prosthetic 
limb that integrates e-skin, skin-grafting techniques and nerve 
regeneration tubes to allow amputees to sense the world through 
artificial skin. Microprocessors translate texture, pressure, 
temperature, and vibration into sensations detected by the patient.
  The inspiration for these students was Jim Henry, a special education 
teacher at West Salem who is an amputee. He challenged them to develop 
a design that would allow him and other amputees to regain the ability 
to feel objects with their prosthesis. With this as their focus, these 
students embarked on a year-long research project that culminated with 
them being recognized by the ExploraVision program as having the best 
project in a nationwide competition.
  ExploraVision is a competition for students in grades K-12 from the 
United States and Canada. The purpose of the competition is to 
encourage students to combine their imaginations with the tools of 
science to create and explore a vision of a future technology. Students 
work in groups, along with a team coach, and select a technology or an 
aspect of a technology that is relevant to their lives. They explore 
what the technology does, how it works, and how, when, and why it was 
invented. The students must then project into the future what the 
technology could be like 20 years from now. Examples of projects from 
this year's winners include boots that convert electrical energy to 
heat to keep feet warm in cold weather and an asthma sensor monitoring 
system.
  Earlier this week in the Science Committee, we wrestled with how to 
get more students interested in math, science, engineering, and 
technology. These students and their fellow award winners suggest to me 
that the cause is not lost, that it is possible to get today's students 
to love math and science. Today's students are tomorrow's scientists, 
mathematicians, and engineers and with students like Stefanie, Amy, 
Tyler, and John, the United States will continue to lead the world in 
technology and innovation.

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