African American Florida teen arrested in 2013 for her volcano science experiment.

[pnwmom]

She mistakenly thought her teacher wanted her to bring it to school . . . and got led away in handcuffs after she demonstrated it on the playground and the top blew off. She was suspended for 10 days but a month later the bomb-making charges against her were dropped.

She's a 19 year old engineering student today.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/florida-girl-arrested-similar-circumstances-ahmed-mohamed-advice/story?id=33838741

Wilmot, now 19, said that in April 2013 she brought a science project to school in Bartow, Florida -- a makeshift volcano that she was very excited to show her teacher.

"He said he needed to approve it first, so I brought it in thinking he literally needed to see it in person," she said.

SNIP

Wilmot was then brought to the juvenile detention center where she was arrested on bomb charges.

"I cried as soon as they told me," she said. "As they were fingerprinting and taking mugshots I said 'Oh my gosh, I'm an actual criminal. I know I didn’t do anything wrong but I felt like I had to believe I did something wrong."

SNIP

Ahmed told news reporters during Wednesday's press conference that he's made the decision to transfer schools.

"I think that's a very brave thing to do," Wilmot said. "When I went back [to school], people would say 'You should've been in jail, you're a terrorist.' For the most past, I tried to ignore it as best I could.

[longship]

1. And Homer Hickam and company gave her a scholarship to Space Camp.

Just like he did for Ahmed Mohamed.

Homer Hickam of "Rocket Boys" == "October Sky" fame, a NASA engineer who trained astronauts.

[pnwmom]

2. I bet the majority of engineering students have had some experiment with

unfortunate -- or overly exciting -- results, but most of them have probably happened at home.

I remember reading a biography of Thomas Edison a long time ago, and thinking we were all lucky he didn't end up in prison, instead of inventing the lightbulb. (Among other things, he blew up an empty train car by accident.)

[Maru Kitteh]

3. Edison was a sociopathic asshole who stole and took credit for the work of others

He horribly electrocuted tame/domesticated elephants with deliberate cruelty as a PR stunt. He was a brutal and shameless opportunist.

He was the Trump double plus of his time.

[KT2000]

4. My father blew up part of the kitchen

when he was a kid doing an experiment on the stove. I think it had something to do with a steam engine. He never got in trouble for it since he was the eldest son in an Irish family. He became an engineer at Boeing - from the early days on for 42 years.