For the students, it’s a memory that will last a lifetime, but for the people they helped, it’s simply life-changing.
Two teams of pre-engineering students at Bollman Technical Education Center in Thornton are headed to Washington, D.C., this week to compete in a national competition with projects they made for community members with disabilities – a wheelchair and a dolly.
The groups were named as two of five finalists in the Junior Engineering Technical Society (JETS) National Engineering Design Challenge. The contest challenges students in grades 9-12 to create a new technology to make work easier for someone with a disability. The students started their designs in October.
There are three rounds of competition, according to the JETS website, www.jets.org. For the first part, students prepared PowerPoint presentations to show their projects to a panel of judges in December. Of the more than 300 teams that entered, 25 were chosen for semi-finals and asked to produce a video of their new machines.
From that, just five go on to nationals. Those who win the national competition are rewarded with prizes like scholarships, medals and trophies. One other group is also from Colorado, and the Bollman students’ pre-engineering teacher Lynette Havens said this is the first time two groups from the same school have been invited to nationals at the same time.
“It still hasn’t hit (me),” said student Devin Osbment, who worked with classmates to modify a wheelchair for Thornton High School teacher Joe Burns.
Burns contracted polio when he was 2 years old and has worn a brace on his right leg ever since.
“In short, parts of my body are worn out from over-compensating from polio,” Burns wrote in an e-mail. “It’s as if my body is wearing out.”
Burns, who has been teaching for more than 37 years, said the wheelchair helps him move throughout the classroom when he is tired.
To start their projects, students first spoke with the people they wanted to help. Thornton High School teacher Joe Burns uses a wheelchair and has issues navigating his classroom.
Another community member who lost one of his arms needed something that would help him lift heavy objects. The students built him a dolly with a platform that rises up to waist-level.
Students said they started their projects by thinking about multiple solutions to the problem at hand. They then chose one and drew the design on a computer. Though both projects were successful, the students still hit some roadblocks along the way.
Students who worked on the dolly said originally they considered using hydraulics or a hand crank to lift the platform, but went with a battery-operated lift instead. The hand crank would be difficult for their community member, and students said the hydraulics were simply “too messy.”
Students working on the modified wheelchair ran into issues with motors that didn’t work. But they received a wheelchair from Sunrise Medical, a company that manufactures and distributes disability products like wheelchairs and beds. As originally made, the chair would just tilt, but students reworked the motor so the chair will rise up and turn.
“I like the hands-on ability we got,” said student Trevor Schuetz. “We actually got to build something.”
The students also got help from other people at Bollman, Havens said. Students in the welding class helped with welding and multimedia students and teacher George McLaughlin made the video that was part of their competition.
The students say they are excited about the competition, but there’s another, more important element to their projects.
“If you get this, and it works right, you know you’re changing someone’s life,” Schuetz said.
Many of the students were already considering a career in engineering. They grew up taking things like radios and bikes apart, only to put them back together. For most, this confirmed their career choice and taught them valuable technical skills early. But there was a moral component, too.
“You can use your talents or what you want to do to help people,” said student Jena Kreuzer.