Ohio eighth-grader turned the school 3D printer into a 150-sale operation — and not one cent went into his own pocket
Somewhere in Granville, Ohio, there is a 13-year-old with better business fundamentals than half of LinkedIn.
His name is Andy Barrett, he's an eighth grader at Granville Middle School, and where his classmates saw a classroom 3D printer — a machine for making keychains and passing tech class — he saw a supply chain.
With an assist from his teacher, Andy started designing and printing his own fidget toys, then stocking them in the school's vending machine, where his classmates could buy them alongside the usual snack-machine fare. Demand did what demand does when your product is a brightly colored plastic doodad and your customer base is middle schoolers.
The numbers, because there are numbers
- 150+ fidget toys designed, printed, and sold
- $500+ raised — every cent of it donated
- Zero dollars kept, spent on video games, or funneled into sneakers
The recipient of all this plastic-fueled revenue is Epilepsy Alliance Ohio, a cause with a personal connection to Andy's family. And this is where the kid graduates from "cute local business story" to something better: every single package he sells includes information about the organization, so each fidget toy doubles as an awareness pamphlet with moving parts. The customer came for the toy. The customer left mildly educated about neurological disorders. That's guerrilla marketing, and he's not old enough to see a PG-13 movie alone.
Every toy in that vending machine is a tiny Trojan horse for epilepsy awareness. He's 13.
Andy's own summary of the operation is exactly as charming as you'd hope: "lots of people buy it, so some of it goes to, like, epilepsy," he explained — followed immediately by the entrepreneur's eternal lament: now he has to refill the machine.
The empire expands
The fidget toys turned out to be a gateway. Andy was named a community ambassador for the Ohio Developmental Disabilities Council, whose chairperson, Jennifer Kucera, has been openly delighted to watch a middle schooler show up with both advocacy instincts and an entrepreneurial streak — her point being that the movement is going to need young voices, and here one is, restocking a vending machine.
He also teamed up with a friend to make a video for athletic coaches showing what different types of seizures can look like and how to respond — which, given how many kids spend their afternoons at practice with adults who've never had that training, is quietly one of the most useful things anyone in this story has done.
Most of us used middle school tech class to make a wobbly phone stand. Andy built a charity pipeline.
No funding round. No pitch deck. One printer, one vending machine, one very good reason. The bar has been set, and it's chest-high on an eighth grader.
Previously we wrote: Everything You Need to Know About 'High Potential' Season 3: Plot, Release Date & More
