Ученики школы Principia стали финалистами международного конкурса по 3D-печати, создав устройства для людей с инвалидностью

Last spring, 16-year-old students at Principia School were hard at work engineering, designing, and 3D-printing devices to help members of the St. Louis community as part of the PrintLab & Autodesk Make Challenge. Students were paired with people to design for through MO Better Foundation, an organization that works to enhance the lives of people with disabilities. Seventeen student projects from Principia were submitted to the international competition, and two teams advanced to the finals: Team Air Benders and Easy Bite. Discover fun things to do with the family Subscribe to the St. Louis Family newsletter for family-friendly things to do and news for local parents, sent every Monday. We will never send spam or annoying emails. Unsubscribe anytime. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Team Air Benders was made up of students Alik Mboya and Mário Almeida. Their assignment was to help Izzy, a young girl with Batten disease, more easily access the suction machine she needs to help prevent choking. Mboya and Almeida constructed a portable mount that allows Izzy’s suction machine to attach to her stroller, making it easier to take with her on the go. The final product took six iterations to complete. “I’m having trouble with words. I feel like just being able to put her suction machine on the back of her chair and go could be life-changing,” Izzy’s mother says. Team Air Benders was one of 49 finalist teams and advanced in the Best Use of 3D Printing category. With 1,200 students from 16 countries participating in the challenge, the students and their instructors were thrilled by the recognition. “[Mario] told me we made the finalists, and I was really happy,” Mboya says. “It really made me feel good about myself and Mario. That was my favorite part of the project.” For many of the students, the project was their first experience with 3D-printing and engineering, making the results and recognition from Make especially meaningful. Team Easy Bite was made up of students Paige Icy, Marley Dorsey, and Loganne Love. They were paired with longtime disability advocate Aimee Wehemier, who has spinal muscular atrophy. Because of her condition, she has difficulty picking up snacks such as chips. The students got to work designing a version of finger chopsticks that would be easy for her to grip without crushing the food. When asked what she learned from the project that she could see herself using in the future, Icy said, “I would say the empathy part. You have to really think about it and put yourself in their shoes and [imagine] how it would work for you. It’s actually harder than it seems.” Easy Bite’s product took 11 iterations to perfect and advanced to the finals in the Best Showcase of Iterative Design category. Wehemier was pleased with the final product, telling the students she’d never been able to eat a crunchy snack on her own before. She even encouraged the girls to market it. The students worked on the projects during their school’s interdisciplinary CoLab, an unconventional class period that combines chemistry, English, world history, and STEM throughout the year. Melaine Shedd, a chemistry teacher at Principia who helped oversee the project, says her favorite part was seeing students combine practical STEM skills with empathy. “These are the skills that are going to continue to be used. And so having that merged as an authentic part of their curriculum, I think is really great. So seeing that come to fruition and seeing the client’s faces and excitement over the products is amazing.”