Syracuse-area High School students have the chance for a summer learning experience that truly changes lives … in this case, the lives of people with disabilities. Hand-in-Hand is a STEM program for kids entering grades 9 through 12 in which they’ll create an actual prosthesis for a person missing part of a limb. Joe Vargo of the Partners For Education and Business explains the students learn basic computer design and three-D printing, then measure a candidate who will get the final product as their new hand or arm.
“We’re trying to create a spark in these students to think about the fact that there is work ahead of them. Look at how you can pursue a career using engineering principles, design principles, 3-D printing, all these things come together to solve needs for people.”
Vargo has seen this program at work before and says participants get much more out of it than just the technical education by interacting with people with disabilities.
“To think that you can actually create a real prosthesis, a hand or hand with part of the upper limb that they can use to go about their daily lives. I think the other part of it is that the candidates share part of their stories.”
Some recipients were born without part of a limb, others lost one in an accident or in the military. Vargo adds the project even has a connection to people in Ghana who need prosthetics.
He says when the artificial hands are assembled and fitted, it can be a moving experience – different than most summer camps.
The Hand-in-Hand program is a partnership between the Partners for Education and Business, the C-N-Y STEM Hub and A-T-and-T. Students and parents can apply at CNYSTEM.com/events. The deadline for applications is June 28th.
