[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 94 (Monday, June 9, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1169]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            RECOGNIZING THE 2008 EXPLORAVISION AWARD WINNERS

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                          HON. JOE KNOLLENBERG

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                          Monday, June 9, 2008

  Mr. KNOLLENBERG. Madam Speaker, I want to congratulate Timothy Zako, 
Enzo Fantin-Yusta, and Ahsan Mahmood for their outstanding performance 
in the 2008 ExploraVision Award. These seventh graders from West Hills 
Middle School in West Bloomfield, Michigan, along with their coaches 
Paul Sanchez and Amy Burke embody the innovative spirit of America. 
Together this team succeeded in capturing second place in this 
prestigious regional competition.
  The ExploraVision Awards, which are sponsored by Toshiba and the 
National Science Teachers Association, are awarded to students of all 
ages for combining their imaginations with the tools of science to 
create and explore a vision of tomorrow's technology. Students of 
different interest, ability, and skill levels develop new technologies 
utilizing their creative thinking and problem solving skills.
  The students from West Hills Middle School sought out to find a new 
method for treating lazy eye and strabismus, a condition where ones' 
eyes are misaligned. These conditions, which affect roughly four 
percent of children in America, are often treated with eye-patches or 
in some instances surgery. These treatments limit the activities that 
children can participate in, can lower the child's self esteem, and in 
the most severe cases require extremely invasive surgery.
  Utilizing existing technologies, the students were able to develop a 
prototype that could be worn like eyeglasses, and could be turned on 
and off as needed so that the child could use both eyes together and 
see in three dimensions at least some of the time. The Strabismus 
Glasses, as they named them, would help a child's self-esteem by 
allowing them to treat their condition without having to use an eye-
patch.
  Madam Speaker, I wish to congratulate these students for their 
amazing and creative work. I am proud of the initiative these young 
people have shown. Theirs is a shining example of what we are all 
capable of achieving with just a little imagination and some hard work.

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