A boy and a girl presenting a metal box attached to a pole with the text "HydroAlert" on it
Friends Satvik and Laya with the HydroAlert device they invented (credit: Mary Kang)
You Write It Interview,

Teens’ Invention Keeps Drivers Safe

How three Texas teens are protecting drivers from dangerous floods

From the December 2021 / January 2022 Issue
Common Core Standards
  • Anchor Standards
    R.1, W.5, L.3
  • Grade 6
    RI.6.1, W.6.5, L.6.3
  • Grade 7
    RI.7.1, W.7.5, L.7.3
  • Grade 8
    RI.8.1, W.8.5 , L.8.3
TEKS Standards
  • Grades 6, 7, 8
    10b, 10c, 10d

Presentation View

Directions

1. Read the interview. 

2. Choose a central idea for your article. 

3. Write a three-paragraph article based on the interview. Be sure to include quotes.

A girl wearing a floral shirt smiling brightly for the photo

Mary Kang

Kaavya Yalamanchili, Laya’s sister, is working on getting HydroAlert installed across Texas—and beyond.

Scope: What inspired you to make HydroAlert?

Laya Yalamanchili: In 2016, a truck was swept away at a low-water crossing in our neighborhood in Austin, Texas, and the driver drowned. We felt a great amount of grief. We wanted to develop a system to prevent these tragedies.

Scope: What is a low-water crossing?

Kaavya Yalamanchili: A low-water crossing is a road above a water source, such as a stream or river. A low-water crossing provides a bridge for cars to drive over. When water levels are high, like during a flood, water runs over the bridge.

Scope: Why are they dangerous?

Satvik Dasari: It takes only about 18 inches of water to lift a car and sweep it away. It can be hard to judge the height of the water on the road, especially at night. So most people underestimate the power of the water and cross the bridge rather than turn around.

Scope: How did you come up with the idea for HydroAlert?

Laya: We did research and found that most low-water crossings do not have automated systems to measure water levels because those systems are expensive. We decided to develop a low-cost system that could automatically measure water levels and alert drivers about floods.

Scope: How does the system work?

Satvik: The system consists of three main components: a sensor that measures the water level, a device that receives the water level data and determines if the road is safe to cross or not, and an app that sends safety alerts to users.

Enlargeable photo of cars driving through high flood waters
© Brian Branch Price/ZUMA Press Wire/Alamy Live News

What to Know: What Is a Flash Flood?

Flash floods are the most dangerous type of flood. They occur when great quantities of rain fall during a short period of time. Flash floods turn calm rivers and streams into raging torrents. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, flash floods cause more deaths in the U.S. each year than tornadoes, hurricanes, or lightning. Nearly half of all flash flood fatalities happen in vehicles.

Scope: What makes HydroAlert more effective than other flood warning systems?

Satvik: The existing systems didn’t provide warnings ahead of time. The most common warning system was a stake with painted markings on it so drivers could see how high the water was. The issue was that drivers often didn’t know how high the water was until they got too close and it was too late. Another warning system costs upward of $30,000, which means it was installed at only a fraction of the low-water crossings in Texas. Because HydroAlert is affordable, it can be installed at numerous locations.

Scope: What’s next?

Kaavya: We want to continue to expand into other counties and cities in central Texas. We’ve also had requests from other countries, such as Bangladesh and India. Our hope is that HydroAlert can be used worldwide.

Scope: What advice would you give to kids who have an idea for an invention?

Laya: Young people have the power to contribute to society in a big way with their unique perspectives. It all starts with identifying an issue or a problem in your community that you care about. From there, by identifying resources, forming a team, and working with others, it is possible to come up with a solution and implement it. If you are passionate about the cause, then you can achieve anything.

This article was originally published in the December 2021 / January 2022 issue.

Multimedia
Step-by-Step Lesson Plan

Close Reading, Critical Thinking, Skill Building

1. READING THE INTERVIEW

  • Give students a minute to preview the You Write It: Interview. Prompt students to use the headline, subhead, and central image to identify the topic of the interview.
  • Break students into groups to read each section of the interview and discuss what they find interesting, surprising, or convincing.
  • Reconvene as a class and ask volunteers to summarize the central idea and supporting details from the interview. Have a volunteer read aloud the writing prompt at the top of the page in the printed magazine or at the top of the digital story page. Brainstorm examples of central ideas (or central claims) that could be used.

2. MODELING THE TEXT

If your students need additional support, project the Annotated Model Text or the Non-Annotated Model Text and review together first.

3. WRITING

  • Distribute the guided-writing activity (available in your Resources tab). This activity guides students to choose a central idea for their articles, paraphrase each question-and-answer pair from the interview, and choose sentences from the interview that they will use as quotations in their articles.
  • Using their responses from the guided-writing activity, have students write a three-paragraph article about the inspiring student using these guidelines:
    •    Opening Paragraph:
      • Your first sentence should be a hook—that is, it should grab the reader’s attention. One option is to state something that is surprising, interesting, or moving. What detail from the interview did you find most interesting?
      • Let readers know what the article is going to be about. In other words, state the central idea of the article.
    •  Body Paragraph:
      • Explain to your readers what the inspiring student’s experience was like, using information from the question-and-answer pairs you summarized.
      • Summarize the most important ideas presented in the interview. Each idea you include should support the central idea that you wrote.
      • Don’t forget to include the direct quotes you chose.
    • Conclusion:
      • Wrap it all up. End your article with a strong sentence that will give your readers something to think about. One option is to end with a quote. Another is to refer to your hook from the opening paragraph.

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