LVJUSD Students Build Hands To Reach Across World

From LVUSD: Before attending the e-NABLE Hand-a-Thon workshop, hands were something many of the participating students might have taken for granted. After spending a Saturday afternoon assembling plastic prosthetic hands for children around the world, those students learned how remarkable every hand can be. Middle school students gathered in the Civic Center branch of the Livermore Public Library for the workshop led by Granada High School (GHS) senior Meenakshi “Mannu” Singhal. Nine students from the Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District (LVJUSD) learned to build the hands made from parts that were 3D printed from GHS’ own printer. The design for the hands and parts to print came from the e-NABLE open source community, where thousands of people from around the world can develop prosthetic hand and arm designs for anyone with a 3D printer to use for free.

Singhal found out about the project in November and she moved fast to get it on track. “I wanted to get a chance to do this program before I graduate,” she said. Singhal plans to major in bioengineering, and her goal is to generate interest in engineering, medicine, and science for younger students in her community. “If this is something that interests them, I want them to pursue an education in STEM.” The prosthetics her groups will put together for these workshops will be sent to e-NABLE community chapters for children on waitlists in underserved areas around the world.

“Livermore is really big on science and technology,” Singhal said in her introduction to the workshop. Projects like e-NABLE can benefit greatly from a community with the resources Livermore has, as Singhal astutely recognized when she discovered the organization. LVJUSD’s schools are acquiring and implementing new technology such as Tinkercad design software and 3D printers all the time for students from K-12. The Livermore Public Library hosts and educates people about these projects. Families have connections to the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratory, and their students are eager to pursue STEM education and projects. Singhal hopes that eventually Livermore will be host to an e-NABLE chapter of its own.

“The students were very engaged in the activity,” said Regina Brinker, STEM Coordinator at LVJUSD and former teacher and mentor to Singhal. “Mannu ran this project all on her own and it was an extremely well-organized event. She reached her goal of inspiring others to become more interested in STEM. The students liked having the chance to make a difference for another child.”

Throughout the afternoon, the young students carefully put together the hands, conscious of their responsibility to the children who would be using them. They were all interested in the process of building, curious about how the device would work throughout every step. One pair of students diligently restarted a complex portion of the assembly when they realized they had made a mistake. At the end, they came out with a better understanding of the way the hand needed to move, able to explain the way the tension wires pulled the fingers into a fist to grasp objects.

“It’s really cool that she’s helping kids learn how to do this,” said one student of Singhal’s workshop. The joy the hands would bring to those who need them became obvious as, at the end of the workshop, the students tested the hands they made. They picked up a ball with a new hand and tossed it to another. One hand grasped a water bottle for a drink. Students laughed as they found new things to pick up, shook hands, or high fived, rediscovering all the good a hand can do.

The hands will be displayed at the LVJUSD Science Odyssey event at Junction Avenue K-8 on Thursday, March 1between 5 -7 pm.

Images Courtesy of LVUSD