Fallston’s engineering class recently took on a special project for Ms. Sara Fratrik’s daughter, Sammy.  Sammy was born with Spina Bifida, a birth defect where a baby’s spinal cord and spine don’t form properly. Because of this condition, Sammy has no feeling from the knee down. While Sammy is a “typical kid,” as her mom says, she has a hard time with certain things, like riding a bike or scooter, because she can’t move her ankles or keep her feet on the pedals. That’s when Mr. Chatterton’s engineering class comes in. 

Mr. Chatterton had reached out to the faculty of Fallston High School to see if anyone had any electronics or technology his engineering kids could fix up when an idea popped up in Ms. Fratrik’s head: What if the engineering class could create a device that could secure Sammy’s feet on to her EZ roller scooter? 

“Her mom came in and showed us a powerpoint about what the problem was,” says Erin-Kate Roeder, a student in the class. This presentation was to give the class a better understanding of Spina Bifida and the challenges it presents with the scooter. The students were then able to get to brainstorming. 

“We started off thinking about what her issue was with her cart and we wanted to adapt it so she could use it whenever she felt like it,” says engineering student Rex Brashears. Classmate Hailey Meyer adds that they wanted to “modify the scooter so that she could play with it without her legs falling off.” 

The next step for the students was to create their design. Rex says the class “designed little models on [their] computer-aided design software and eventually bring those models to reality with 3D printing.” The finished product, which Hailey describes as a “plastic cover that could be keep her legs in place,” was then screwed to Sammy’s EZ roller. 

The modified cart was gifted to Sammy for her 10th birthday, but she wasn’t the only person who benefited from the project. The whole class was excited to have the opportunity to help Sammy out.  

Student Greg Hoer says, “It was cool that we could help someone with a disability.” Erin-Kate adds that the class “could actually apply [their engineering knowledge] and help real people because [they] learn things that can be applied to the real-world, but this is the first time [they] actually got to do it.” These sentiments were shared by everyone in the class.  

Ms. Fratrik also noted that there are many career opportunities for any students that may want to use their engineering skills to make prosthetics and things similar to this project. Hopefully this project can serve as an inspiration for young engineers to pursue this path or others just like it in their own futures.