At the March 12 Catasauqua Area School District Board of Education meeting, Hillary Hahn, gifted support teacher, detailed the work done by Catasauqua Middle School students named as finalists in the Pennsylvania Invention Convention.

Nickolas Kupchick and Alex Bernini created the Pencil Dropper Stopper, in response to their classmates constantly dropping their pencil cases and supplies all over the floor.

Their invention allowed for supplies of pencils, erasers, extra lead and more to be accessed easily with a Velcro section to keep it from sliding around and falling. It also featured a dry erase section for quick notes. The Pencil Dropper Stopper was also made in a variety of colors and patterns.

The students and their invention were selected as finalists in the grades 5-8 category. The statewide competition was held Feb. 7 in Hershey.

“The Pennsylvania Invention Convention gives students recognition for creating inventions to solve real-world problems,” according to its website.

The K-12 competition has been working to help students “explore, design and create inventions to meet the needs of the end user” since 2015.