My Smart Clock That Helps Me Every Day

Ira Bolli Essay Image

by Ira Bolli

3rd grade at Clara Barton Elementary (Redmond, Washington, USA)

Honorable Mention

How does your artwork depict the contribution of engineers to a better world?

My artwork shows how engineers make the world better by creating a smart clock that helps me every day.My smart clock can tell the time, your schedule, answers questions, and can read stories to you.
Firstly , my smart clock wakes me up every morning with with happy messages like, “You are an awesome and kind girl. Have a wonderful day!” This helps kids feel confident and ready for the day.
Secondly, my smart clock reminds kids of their schedule for the day like brushing your teeth, packing your backpack, and what your going to do in class which helps you become more independent.  
Thirdly, when I get millions of questions every day, I can ask my smart clock to answer them. For example, I can ask " How is the weather today" or "What is the meaning of 'silhouette'".
Lastly, when I am ready to go to bed and rest, my smart clock can read me any story I want to make me fall asleep.

Describe how you think viewers from at least two different audiences might view or interpret your work.

My smart clock helps two main users who are kids and parents helps them get thorough their daily routines smoother. For parents, it helps them not always be nagging for kids to finish their task, and establish healthy routines and a stronger bond with kids instead of fighting.
For kids, it is a fun interactive companion that helps them with their independence, curiousity and having emotional well being.

Briefly describe the materials you used and the process you went through to create your piece.

Materials Used:
Pencil: I used pencil to draw the clock and its features.
Black Outline Marker: I outlined everything to make it bold and clear.
Paper: I used paper to draw the smart clock and express by ideas.
Colored Pencils:  I colored it to make it look more prettier.
Process: Brainstorm: i thought about kids problems every day, like forgeting things so, I decided to make a smart clock to help myself and everyone.
Planning: I thought how to design the clock and what features it should have and how it should look like schedule, questions, and stories.
Drawing it out: I put all my ideas into art.

Explain anything you learned from the process. Ideally include any failures you experienced along the way. Failure and subsequent improvement are critical to engineering design, so please tell us how you failed, how you dealt with it, and how that influenced your submission.

My faliures:
During the process I had some failures like putting to many buttons on the clock and also putting the buttons to high for kids to reach. It felt very messy and confusing so, I tried a different design.
What I learned: 
The mistakes I did helped me understand good engineering means trying out new ways, and figuring out what works. By fixing my faliures, my final clock will be a sucess in helping kids and parents folowing their daily routines in a much easier way.

Ira Bolli

Honorable Mention

3rd grade at Clara Barton Elementary (Redmond, Washington, USA)

2026 Winners

These winning entries in the 2026 EngineerTeen Writing Contest showcase the lifecycle of everyday items and the types of engineering involved along the way. Congratulations to all winners and finalists!