CLEVELAND — At the Great Lakes Science Center, a 3D printer whirs away, slowly but surely creating pieces and parts needed by high schoolers on a mission to make a difference.
Four high schools in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, alongside the Great Lakes Science Center, make up the Greater Cleveland FIRST Robotics Initiative, where students learn about robotics and build robots to compete while gaining greater exposure to careers in STEM. Now, the students are putting their robotics skills to use by helping others.
The group is creating prosthetic limbs for kids who need them, like 13-year-old Ernest Priester. He and his mother were attending a back to school tech fair when Ernest walked by the FIRST Robotics Initiative booth. It was there where he noticed a prosthetic arm.
Ernest was born without his right hand, and was eager to try on the arm they had on display. Within a few minutes, he was able to pick up a water bottle off the table of the booth. The students offered to make him his own arm, free of charge.
"This whole experience, it’s great, because it's letting him see who he is, what he can do, different options he has," Ernest's mom Carmen said. "All of this is great opportunity, great experience, I love it. Cheering for the robotics team!"
Carmen said her son now has an interest in robotics. For student Yariselle Andujar, a sophomore at Davis Aerospace & Maritime high school, learning how to use this technology and assembling a prosthetic arm for Ernest was rewarding.
"We were just so excited with joy because we finally came to an end product," Yariselle told 3News. "We're very excited to see it in action."
Andujar, who wants to be a pilot one day, said being able to build these prosthetics has been "mind-blowing." She also takes the opportunity as a way to encourage other young women to go into a career in STEM.
"I can push, empower other cultured students and girls and females to pursue in STEM and continue the career," she said.
From helping out a fellow student in Cleveland to reaching out as far as South America, the students are continuing to use their skills to impact lives. Their most recent project has been crafting a prosthetic for Samantha, a young woman in Ecuador who lost her left arm in a bus accident. The program is working with nonprofit IMAHelps, a group that leads and coordinates humanitarian medical missions globally but especially in South and Central America.
"When we learned of the robotics team here in Cleveland, we thought that would be phenomenal, because then we could have literally kids helping kids across borders," Jeff Crider, communications director of IMAHelps, explained. "The potential was just huge."
IMAHelps will be taking the prosthetic arm to Ecuador next week, and students are hoping to be able to Zoom with Samantha and her family. Ahead the meeting, Yariselle shared her excitement in getting to build this prosthetic for her.
"I hope that they enjoy what we did for their daughter," she said. "I know that they're probably very proud of her and very proud of us. We care a lot for everyone. We're there if they need anything else. We're always here for them."