By: Emma Kelley, Wynne High School

The 2025 EAST Project Competition is one of the most prestigious competitions at EAST Conference, as all projects are qualified to participate regardless of technology used, problems solved, and the age of students involved. This year’s winners are from Westwood Elementary School with the “Tie It Up Station.” This project was the final refining touch to fulfill a young student’s dream of entrepreneurship. This student had a growing bracelet making business, but she needed help being able to do it all by herself.

Their client had limited mobility in her hands that caused struggles in tying the knot to finish the bracelets without her mom doing it for her. Being a young entrepreneur already comes with so many hardships, being able to finish the bracelets on her own should not have to be one of them. So, when Armando Avelar, Zoee Silva, Daleyza Lopez, and Rosy Rivas were brought this idea from the student’s therapy team, they knew that this was the project for them, and the Tie It Up Station came to life.

They started by making prototypes and showing them to the therapy team. The therapy team would continuously pour into the project through testing, critiquing, and providing a different perspective. Throughout the entirety of the project, there were around 10 prototypes made before they landed on the final design that was perfect for their client. Throughout these 10 prototypes, the project team worked on what kind of materials would be best for each piece of the station while also trying to work out the sizing. 

“We came up with the idea of creating a box with different sizes of slits and rings,” Zoee said. “Our client said she wanted different sizes and options so all of her bracelet designs could fit, so we had to try a lot of different prototypes.”

Thanks to the work of these students, their client is now able to create their own bracelets and tie every knot by placing bracelets in different spots of the Tie It Up Station. The support from the box allows the client to tie knots of any size.

The students were able to explore new technologies while expanding their knowledge of technologies including the Glowforge, vinyl printers, Cricut, Tinkercad, and 3D printing. One of the biggest things they learned throughout the completion of this project was service to their community. They learned how to assess and solve problems for others while creating products for their partners with the technologies around them.

“I liked designing the rings for this project and found I enjoy 3D printing stuff,” Armando said “I think I’ve gotten a lot better at using design programs like TinkerCAD and am looking forward to doing more.”

Westwood Elementary thrives off of projects that focus on accessibility, and seeing the final product of the Tie It Up Station left a deep impression on the students who worked so hard on it over the course of the school year.

“She said she loved it and is so thankful she can do everything she needs to by herself,” Zoee said. “Now she can be a young entrepreneur without asking anyone for help.”