Continuing a month of Black History studies, one lucky class at Sara Harp Minter Elementary made a splash with their focus on the inventor of a famous water gun. Eileen Corley’s 3rd graders learned about Lonnie Johnson, who invented the Super Soaker, then designed their own prototypes.

As part of the school PTO’s Black History Walking Tour Project of famous African Americans, Corley’s class picked Johnson to be the subject of their door decorations. The class read “Whoosh! Lonnie Johnson’s Super-Soaking Stream of Inventions” to inspire their contributions to the door. They wrote a fact about his life, along with a picture of a water gun they created and designed.

“The students learned from Mr. Johnson’s story about the importance of never giving up, hard work, and creativity. They were inspired by his ‘out of the box’ thinking and loved learning how he created a water gun in his bathroom,” said Corley. “The students were excited to learn more about his other inventions, and I have had some students go home and tinker around with inventions just as Lonnie Johnson.”

— Provided by the Fayette County School System.