When drama teacher Chelsie King asked the students at her school to find a way for her husband to wheelchair around the block with their newborn baby, they were up to the challenge.
King’s husband, Jeremy, had brain surgery for a tumor three years ago, and since then he has been struggling to keep his balance. He wanted to be able to hold his baby securely, but “there really isn’t a ton of resources for parents with disabilities,” Chelsie said. Hello america. She works at the Bullis School in Germantown, Maryland, and has enlisted the help of her colleague Matt Zigler, who teaches the “Making for Social Good†course.
In this class, students design products to help people, and the 10 high school students were excited to come up with something that could attach to the wheelchair Jeremy used. They spoke with the Kings about their needs, researched infant car seats and their installation, and then wrote 3D models of their designs. “I really feel that the students took all of my concerns to heart when creating the prototypes,†Jeremy said. Two projects were selected for the students: one that connects an infant car seat to Jeremy’s wheelchair and another that attaches an entire stroller to the wheelchair.
“Children grow up and they grow up in a car seat, so we wanted Mr. King to be able to walk with his son regardless of his age,†student Jacob Zlotnitsky said. GMA. After the attachments were completed, the students posted the instructions online, to help even more people. They finished right before Chelsie gave birth to a son, Phoenix, in March. A few weeks later, the Kings came out with the car seat attachment and found it to work perfectly. The students were delighted to learn that their creation was a success. “I feel lucky to have been able to take a course that has allowed me to really make a difference in someone’s life,†Zlotnitsky said.
