"I decided

not to listen to that. I decided to persevere," Johnson tells students.

"Perseverance is my special word because it has gotten me where I

am today."

Soon after

taking the test, Anderson's very first invention, a remote controlled

robot he named Linex, won first place in the University of Alabama's Junior

Engineering Technical Society Exposition in 1968. Anderson told students

how he continued to persevere when he graduated from Tuskegee University

with a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering and later

with a master's of science in nuclear engineering and a Ph.D. in science.

Throughout

his career as an engineer with the U.S. Airforce, NASA and private research

laboratories, Johnson's perseverance gave him the determination to come

home after a long day at work and conduct experiments for his own projects

in the basement of his home at night. In fact, conducting an at-home experiment

sparked the beginning of what would become his most profitable invention

to date.

While working

for Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, Johnson was experimenting

with a new type of heat pump that would use water as a working fluid instead

of Freon.

"I had

a nozzle hooked to my sink in the bathroom and I was shooting this thing

into the tub and the stream of water was so powerful that the curtains

were swirling in the breeze it sent out. I thought to myself that this

would make a great water gun."

Although he

knew he had hit on a hot idea, it would take him almost seven years before

the Super Soaker® would reach the marketplace. Johnson told students

how he had to persevere once again to secure his own patent for the toy

and to sell the idea to a manufacturer who would be willing to make and

distribute it to stores.

"Perseverance

has always been my favorite word when it comes to the world of invention

because the process is a long, complicated, and at times very a frustrating

one," Anderson said.

Nine years

after its inauspicious beginning in Johnson's bathtub, the Super Soaker®

rose to become the hottest selling toy in America, breaking previous sales

records set by Nintendo. It is estimated that more than 200 million Super

Soakers® have been sold with revenues ranging around $400 million.

Johnson is

not the only one who knows about perseverance. North Fayette Elementary

School Principal Louis Robinson had been trying to secure the famous inventor

for about five years.

"This

is something I have been looking forward to for a long time. For several

years I have been calling Mr. Anderson's office to try to get him to come

to the school but his busy schedule would not allow it," Robinson

said. "However, I continued to call and I guess my perseverance finally

paid off," he said.