POCONO MANOR, MONROE COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — More than 3,000 Pennsylvania students are participating in a competition for young inventors.

Taking a problem and fixing it isn’t an easy task for some, but for these young inventors at the Pennsylvania Invention Convention, it’s what they do.

Anything from the first frost of winter.

“Everyone was out in the parking lot scraping their windshields and we saw how much everyone was struggling with it, with this being the first snow of the season, so we decided we were going to take an ice scraper and modify it,” said Ian Hall a senior at Cambria Heights High School

To opening boxes with “Pat.”

“It stands for package access tool and it’s a much safer and easier way of opening all those boxes you’ve been getting since COVID. everyone just switched to online,” says Logan Ivory a 7th-grade student at Cambria Heights Middle School.

Or just simply saving trees.

“How to prevent forest fires so they don’t go into a big forest fire and burn down our trees,” explained Violet Moulin a 4th-grade student at Oil City Area School District.

More than 3,000 students across Pennsylvania took a real-world problem and created an innovative way to fix it with all different types of materials.

“We use K’nex for this one because it’s a prototype and then we’re using titanium and other types of strong metals,” added Regan Harry a 4th-grade student at Oil City Area School District.

Those inventions were put to the test in front of judges in the ‘States’ round of the competition held at Kalahari Resorts Waterpark.

“Ideas for family members, make a better cane for grandma, accessibility ideas, so the kids are really very creative and very kind with most of their creations,” said Brenda Calhoun a representative for the PA Invention Convention.

And even though only a select number of students will make it through to nationals, the importance of creativity stays among them and their teachers.

“I never got these opportunities as a fourth grader and to get to come four hours away and compete in something so big, is amazing for them,” added Stephanie Staub a stem teacher at Oil City Area School District.

“It’s pretty important because it took up most of our time with like school and stuff, and we’re really thankful to be here,” says Hannah Miller a 5th-grade student at Central Cambria School District.

Students who make it to nationals will head to Michigan for the competition and even have a chance at earning a patent on their invention.