World Changing Warriors

I probably will never be able to express today’s experience adequately, so I am going to try and keep this short and sweet. Against my wishes our school purchased a 3D printer. I did not want it. I did not see the educational value in it, and honestly I did not think I would be “smart” enough to figure the machine out. My how things have changed. This printer has changed my life and my students. We have cried, we have thought harder than we ever have before, and we are excited about where this journey is taking us.

When we started off I told my students that we were going to build a hand. They didn’t really get it, and neither did I. Our a-ha moment happened the day we actually started assembling the hand. That is when it all came together. That was the moment they realized exactly what we were doing and the impact that they were making. We worked diligently on our practice hand. The students all slipped into their roles fairly easy. It all kind of just fell into place. The girls researched and tied strings. We all agreed their fingers were dainty and could easily maneuver the strings through the tiny holes in the hand. The boys used power tools to drill, lighters to burn, and assembled all of the pieces together.

During the process of assembling our practice hand we reached out to a sweet lady that I went to high school with. Her daughter was born with Amniotic Band Syndrome, which caused some of her fingers to not form correctly. I asked Brittany if she would be interested in having my students make her a 3D printed prosthetic hand. She said YES, and our journey officially started.

This morning my Tech Team had the opportunity to meet Brittany and her daughter Blake. We talked about how all of this would {hopefully} unfold. We talked about the design of the hand we will print. Blake talked us through some of the discomfort that her hand causes her, and then….. we had to take selfies. Of course! Here are a few pictures from today. We will be documenting this journey from start to end in hopes to raise awareness to other districts throughout Texas and beyond. Mrs. Abby Paben has named my Tech Team “World Changing Warriors”, and I could not agree more. These kids on my team are truly changing the world, one hand at a time.

Pictures of the Tech Team explaining the different parts of the hand that they worked on while building our practice hand.

Pictures of us talking about the process. Pictures  of the girls on our team preparing to measure Blake’s arm and wrist.

Measuring different parts of Blake’s hand, wrists and arm – and of course some selfie taking fun. 🙂

Today was AMAZING!!! When I woke up I thought to myself, “Is this real life? Do I really get to do this?”  I am so incredibly thankful that my superintendent saw the need for this program. I am glad that I wasn’t so resistant to change and innovation that I missed out on this. I am so glad that I didn’t let fear win.