Local 8th grader aims to break language barriers with innovative technology

WILMINGTON,NC (WWAY) — One student’s curiosity about a class project sparked her to take on a major problem: how to better communicate with people who cannot speak. Her solutions could be life-changing.

“There are not enough forms of media or translators that can fully translate American Sign Language into spoken word,” Alexandria Chappell said.

Chappell is an 8th-grade student at Charles P. Murray Middle School in Wilmington. She wants to use technology to conquer language barriers across the nation.

“All around the world, we have deaf people,” Chappell said. “It’s such a diverse language even from the different dialects here. It could vary from New York to California. Everyone has their own way of speaking. It’s a very functional language. It will change and flow and evolve over time.”

Her English teacher, Amy Steelman, pushes students to pursue passions like this.

“I want them to realize that they can change the world around them and they can make it a better place,” Steelman said.

Each year, Steelman assigns students to participate in an advocacy group challenge. Chappell chose the national Tata Consultancy Service Ignite Innovation Student Challenge which requires middle schoolers to identify a problem and create a digital solution.

“I created what I call the ‘Sign Buddy,'” Steelman said. “It was a cube that could translate American Sign Language and English Sign Language into spoken word and so forth back and forth.”

On May 24, this innovator joined the winning circle of the challenge as the Top ‘Education’ Pillar Prize winner winning a $7,500 scholarship. The other pillar categories of the challenge include Health and Planet.

“I didn’t think I could actually win my pillar,” Chappell said. “I kinda danced around the room a little bit.”

“It was beyond my wildest dreams for sure,” Steelman said. “I was beyond excited for her.”

Program Manager of TCS’s Corporate Social Responsibility Serene Gallegos says the hope is that the ‘Sign Buddy’ could eventually be a functional product to help improve the world.

“The intent or the creation of the challenge is really to help young people and students like Alex build their capacity by using computational thinking and problem solving strategies to address those problems,” Gallegos said.