In the United States, a person has to be sixteen to drive, seventeen to see certain movies, and eighteen to vote. People can get great discounts on all sorts of things provided they're over sixtyfive. Everywhere we look there are age limits that define what people can and can't do. But creativity has no boundaries, no limitations. Anyone can invent.  Sitting in the car and waiting for her mom to return from shopping, Becky decided she might as well try to finish her math homework. But it was growing dark and getting hard to see the paper. "I didn't have a flashlight, and I didn't want to open the car door because then the whole car would light up." recalled Becky. "So I thought it would be good to have my paper light up somehow, and that's when the idea came to me."  It isn't every day that a tenyearold invents a product eagerly sought by several businesses, but that's exactly what Becky Schroeder did when she created a tool that enabled people to write in the dark. Her invention ---- the Glosheet. That night Becky went home trying to imagine different ways of making her paper glow in the dark. She remembered all sorts of glowinthedark toys like balls and Frisbees and wondered how they were made. She was determined to find a solution. So the very next day, Beck's dad took her on an outing to the hardware store. They returned with a pail of phosphorescent paint. She took the paint and stacks of paper into the darkest room in the house. There, she experimented.  "I'd turn on the light, turn it off, turn it on," said Becky. "My parents remember me running out of the room, saying "It works, it works! I'm writhing in the dark!" She used an acrylic board and coated it with a specific amount of phosphorescent paint. She took a complicated idea and made it work rather simply. When the coated clipboard is exposed to light, it glows. The glowing board then lights up the paper that has been placed on top. Two years after her initial inspiration, in 1974, Becky became the youngest female ever to receive a U.S. patent. She didn't actively market her Glosheet. She didn't need to. The New York Times wrote an article about an incredible invention ---- patented by a twelveyearold, and the inquiries and orders streamed in. What caused Becky to invent Glosheet?
She was having trouble with math problems. She was trying to do homework when it got dark. She was trying to earn money. She was working on a school project.