As holidays go, it wasn’t well celebrated. In fact, few people knew about it at all. Nevertheless, National Technological Innovation Day is a real national holiday designated as such for the first time on Oct. 29 of this year. And the brainchild behind it all (underline brain, underline child) is Avrohom Yosef Staum, a bright, well-spoken, determined 12-year-old who attends Torah Prep School.

As Avrohom explains it, he had an assignment on a final last year as a sixth grader at Epstein Hebrew Academy, to come up with a new idea for a national holiday. He called to consult his uncle, Amitai Bin-nun, who works on science and energy issues for Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del. Bin-nun told Avrohom that the senator was trying to come up with ways to improve innovation in the United States through education and funding new science research programs.

“It’s hard to recall my exact thought process during the final, but eventually I came up with an idea for a national holiday that would educate people about technology in America,” recalled Avrohom, who is the eldest of Rabbi Yitzchak and Rachel Staum’s six children. “I wrote on the essay about how this holiday would be about commemorating the history of technology in the U.S., educating people about technology and ultimately inspiring people to come up with their own innovations. I also said that if people in America were inspired to create innovations, it would bring business to the country, and ultimately improve the economy and life in the U.S.”

The night after the final, Avrohom called his uncle and told him about his idea. Bin-nun gave it a thumbs-up and said he would tell Coons about it. A few days later, Bin-nun asked Avrohom to send the senator the essay. 

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“Later, my uncle told me that Senator Coons thought that the idea for Innovation Day was excellent, and suggested calling it ‘National Technological Innovation Day’ to make it clear what sort of innovation was being celebrated,” said Avrohom. “He also suggested that Oct. 29 be designated as this day (because) the computer network ARPANET was launched on Oct. 29, 1969, marking the beginning of the Internet age. It wasn’t clear how long it would take for the resolution to be adopted and become law, but the process was underway.”

Last summer, Avrohom had a chance to visit his uncle in Washington D.C. and do a little “campaigning” for his idea. He spoke with staffers in the offices of Senator Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., and Rep. Ann Wagner, R-Mo., where he asked if they would help make this idea for a holiday a reality. 

Despite the government shutdown in the fall, work on declaring National Technological Innovation Day continued. The text of the Senate Resolution 275, as the holiday bill was known, was finalized and passed around to various senators; eventually four joined Coons in “sponsoring” the resolution declaring National Technological Innovation Day.

“When the afternoon of Oct. 28 came around, I was told that the Senate would soon be voting (to establish) National Technological Innovation Day on Oct. 29,” said Avrohom. “I turned on C-Span, and held my breath waiting to see if the national holiday would pass… Just a little bit later, the presiding officer said that the resolution would be adopted ‘without objection.’ I was so happy. An idea of mine became law with the ‘unanimous consent’ of 100 senators.”

Suffice it to say there was a lot of excitement in Avrohom’s Chesterfield home that day. His parents say they couldn’t be more proud, adding that Avrohom is a terrific student, with a special gift for computer science.

“He creates website programming, and has been doing this since he was very young,” said Rachel Staum. “This is something he lives and breathes. He’s always been involved with computers in much more meaningful ways than playing games. He has taught himself many, many computer languages.”

The Staums credit Rachel’s brother Amitai Bin-nun, as the rabbi said, “with being a phenomenal uncle who believes in his (young) nephew and has nurtured a love of technology and learning in him.” Avrohom wanted to “publically thank” his Epstein teacher, Lauren Singman, who gave him the assignment in the first place.

Avrohom isn’t sure whether National Technological Innovation Day will endure as a holiday over time, but he plans to do his part to keep it alive and well. “Educating people about technology and computer science is something I feel very strongly about,” said Avrohom, who will celebrate his bar mitzvah in June.