Cogitating rather than dilly-dallying as most teenagers her age, Cheyenne thought about ways to prevent accidents on a rather busy street near her house. Looking out from her window, Cheyenne witnessed many accidents occurring because of careless lead-foot drivers putting the pedal to the medal without regard to the lives they might be risking. Her idea to create a speed bump which would detect an approaching speeding car and thus deploy itself, won her the chance to compete at the 13th annual Discovery 3M Young Scientist Challenge. At this final event, Cheyenne stands the chance to nail the coveted award of America's Top Young Scientist along with a $25,000 prize. Not bad for cogitating while looking outside her bedroom window.
As though this one invention were not enough, Cheyenne has also come up with another ingenious idea, one which could have implications for potential victims of future hurricanes and other nasty acts of nature. Prior to Hurricane Irene, which lashed out at the eastern seaboard, Cheyenne put forth a flood protection idea: a kind of waterproof sheet that would wrap around a house and essentially rise with impending flooding. The sheet would have built -in sensors that would monitor the level and water and thus rise or fall accordingly. The sheet thus would protect the house from water damage. I think insurance companies, hard-hit over the years by damages incurred from mother-nature-like storms, would welcome and even support such ideas.