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March 2019
IFIA Mag azine
years, such as her electric skateboard. March 2019 IFIA Mag azine
An inventor on wheels
Ever since she was little, Thomsen says she
has been fascinated by the way things work
KAT THE BUILDER: and the intricacies of machines, which fu-
eled the desire to invent things of her own.
CAN SHE DO IT? YES SHE CAN! “My parents didn’t let me, [but] I wanted to
take our microwave apart,” she says.
Standing in the middle of her garage-turned-workspace overflow-
ing with boxes, artwork and recent inventions, Palo Alto Senior A couple of designs that have come to life
High School freshman Katherine Thomsen balances her hand- are her syringe mechanism operating her
made electric skateboard against her knee as she points out the closet lights and her electric longboard
metal box containing the complex engine she built herself. Her that she built last summer, one of her more
helmet, its color barely discernible under a mountain of stickers, time-consuming inventions.
lies nearby, always within arm’s reach.
Thomsen has always been most attracted
Although many teenagers would love the idea of having their to all things wheeled, her electric long-
own electric skateboard to ride to school, not many would be up board an addition to her fixie bicycle, uni-
for the enormous task of assembling one from scratch. That is, ex- cycle, worn out from years of riding it to
cept for teens like Thomsen. school and across the Golden Gate Bridge
and a variety of skateboards.
One of a kind
Thomsen is not your typical teen. She is an inventor, artist, surfer, “I pretty much just like anything that has
traveler, soccer player, unicycler, skateboarder, Snapple bottle cap wheels that I can ride around,” she says.
collector, lock-picker and more. Her interests constantly changing,
Thomsen cannot be constrained to a single hobby and is always Thomsen was inspired to build her elec-
curious to explore and try more. tric longboard after learning of their high
price, diving headfirst into the expansive
The remains of her past experiences can be seen scattered across online electric skateboarding community,
her room. A syringe mechanism hangs by her closet door, which determined to create one of her own.
turns the light on whenever the door opens, and posters from
Spain are tacked over her bed. “I knew nothing about it … electrical stuff
and coding,” she says. “So I did a lot of re-
However, it is the most intriguing piece of furniture in her room that search. I watched videos [and] I read.”
holds all of Thomsen’s past and current hobbies, inner thoughts,
experiences and creations: handmade shelves, which were once After hours of in-depth research, many
an old dresser. Among the books, jars of snapple bottle caps, lock- trips to the hardware store, which Thom-
picking materials, mini condiment packages and spray paint art sen says is one of her favorite places to be,
filling her shelves, the most important aspect of Thomsen’s life lies and a couple of mishaps along the way,
in a simple green folder overflowing with sketches and detailed Thomsen finally completed her strenuous
diagrams of mechanical inventions she came up with over the project.
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