When you are a 15-year old and you see a disabled student drop the contents of their lunch tray while walking to a table, what do you do? If you are [Adaline Hamlin], you design a 3D printed attachment for the trays to stop it from happening again.
The work was part of “Genius Hour” where [Hamlin’s] teacher encouraged students to find things that could be created to benefit others. An initial prototype used straws to form stops to fit plates, cups, and whatever else fit on the tray. [Zach Lance], a senior at the school’s 3D printing club, helped produce the actual 3D printed pieces.
[Hamlin] won the Tennessee STEM and Innovation Network’s STEM for ALL Award, and she is making the design available to other schools where it can help other students. We aren’t sure how the parts attach to the lunch tray, but we suspect some glue is involved.
We love seeing young inventors and their projects. If you haven’t worked with students before, it is a very rewarding experience. There are lots of potential activities. You can help and many high school teachers are doing an amazing job teaching our kinds of things to kids. Better still, they are sharing their experiences and materials with a worldwide audience.
