Why They’re Interesting: After an accident left Bonds’ guinea pig temporarily paralyzed, she went to school for help. She found Scanlan, a teacher who had a 3-D printer in his classroom. Turning it into a project, Scanlan and three of his students designed and printed a wheelchair for Luna, the guinea pig, to help her move with ease.
Print Plan: When presented with the mission, Scanlan was thrilled to help. Using an already made plan for a dog wheelchair, he and his students printed off scaled-down pieces that would fit Luna. “Jessceya isn’t my student,” Scanlan says. “But I think it showed a lot of us here what these labs are capable of as far as helping our students and how we could have students across labs working together.”
Problem Solver: Scanlan has his students bring ideas of what to print that can help them at school or in their personal lives. “We lost one of our doorstops and rather than going to carpentry, which is three doors down, we got on the iPad, designed a doorstop and printed it out,” Scanlan says.
Confidence Boost: Asking for help hasn’t always been easy for Bonds. She came close to dropping out of school four years ago due to bullying, but her mom enrolled her in Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow. For her junior year, Bonds came to Lorain County Joint Vocational School. “I wanted to interact with people and get out,” Bonds says. “I’m a shy person and I don’t always like talking to everyone. But I had to be open and explore to get Luna help and that helped me.”
Therapy Session: Luna’s veterinarian recommended physical therapy and even administered laser treatments, but the injury didn’t slow her down. “Even when she was out of her wheelchair, she would still drag herself around,” Bonds says
Animal Kingdom: Luna now roams the house without the wheelchair. Daily cuddle sessions and endless snacks are a must. “She loves Timothy hay, lettuce and spinach,” Bonds says.
Interesting Fact: 5 hours: The amount of time it took to print the entire wheelchair.
