Make something to make a difference.
Six simple words that 11 Rocky Point High School students took to heart when they transformed some unused storage space in the high school into a makerspace complete with peg boards, shelves and several 3D printers. Those printers, coupled with the inspiration of technology education teacher Mr. John Schumacher, motivated the students to painstakingly build a 3D prosthetic hand.
The students, sophomores to seniors –Blake Abrenica, Thomas Anzalone, Brendon Artzt, Jacob Bazata, Robert Christensen, Gavin Donovan, Justin Gersch, Gianna Imeidopf, Justin Pititto, James Prendergast and Samad Sajjad – worked during free periods and after school meticulously assembling the 3D parts into a Phoenix V-3 prosthetic hand.
Mr. Schumacher, passionate about teaching students the technology skills that they can use in many career fields, including architecture, interior design and mechanical and structural engineering, happened upon e-NABLE, an organization with volunteer members who use open-source technology and 3D printers to provide free prosthetic hands for children and adults who need them. As traditional prosthetics normally cost thousands of dollars and need to be replaced as children grow, the production of a printed Phoenix V-3 prosthetic hand is much more inexpensive because of its design: It simply relies on a person’s functional wrist and uses the palm to push against the device so the fingers close when the wrist is bent. The students and Mr. Schumacher plan to donate the prosthetic hand to the organization.
As Mr. Schumacher paraphrased Albert Einstein’s well-known thought, “In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity,” his energies and enthusiasm teaching Rocky Point students during the pandemic continue to inspire them to innovate and create something from nothing in the new makerspace.