Pictured is Ethan Smith, a sixth grade student at Meadowview Elementary School who researched and presented on tangible holograms to the Milford Exempted Village School District Board of Education last year.
By Megan Alley
Sun staff

Meadowview Elementary School offers its fifth grade science students a Genius Hour program to study topics of their choice, and one student explored the cutting edge of technology with his research on the medical applications of 3D holograms.

Teacher Brooke Cox introduced the program as part of her science instruction. All students are asked to take up a subject and investigate it, and a few are selected to present their findings to the Milford Exempted Village School District Board of Education at the end of the school year.

Ethan Smith, now 12, researched the uses of tangible holograms, with a focus on medicine.

“I really like helping people out in a technological type of way,” Smith said.

Starting in November 2015, Smith worked almost every day to independently conduct his research.

He utilized online resources, including information offered from The University of Bristol in England.

Smith found that tangible holograms are used to detect different types of diseases and to help prevent the transfer of bacteria in hospitals, since doctors can view patients’ internal organs without subjecting them to invasive surgery.

“I found it very interesting; I think holograms could really help people,” Smith said.

He presented his findings to the board of education in May.

“Holograms really should be able to help people in the future; this is one of the best ideas ever,” he said.

Charles Smith, Ethan’s father and a sixth-grade math and science teacher at the school, spoke to the success of the Genius Hour program.

“I think what Brooke has done so well and what the Genius Hour kind of seeks to do so well is find something that the kids are really interested in, that they’re passionate about, and let them pursue that,” he said. “The stuff that they’re able to do is just incredible.”

He added, “When they’re kids, they believe that anything is possible, so something like this, to us that still sounds unbelievable, to them it’s just a matter of fact. It makes them feel like there are limitless possibilities out there for them.”