
Good News: Grand Rapids Teens Design A Better Wheelchair For Youth
Michigan high school seniors engineered a power wheelchair for a young boy with a spinal disease and he's loving it!
Kingston Wilson Needed More Mobility To Enjoy Being With His Friends
Kingston Wilson has spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) and requires a wheelchair to get around. He manages pretty well with his manual wheelchair, but sometimes it’s a struggle for him to keep up with his elementary school classmates.
So a group of engineering students from West Michigan Aviation Academy created a solution to help Kingston get around better.
The charter high school seniors built a motorized scooter that attaches to Kingston’s wheelchair, allowing the little guy to shoot around quickly and keep up with his friends.
They were even able to make it so Kingston could attach the scooter all by himself, giving him even more independence.
New Freedom Is A 'Game Changer' For Kingston
His mom, Savannah Nanninga-Jensen, told FOX 17 News the creation is a “game-changer” for their family since motorized wheelchairs cost thousands of dollars. The best news of all? The students’ scooter design came in at under $100, well below the cost of most of the motorized chairs out there on the market.
One of the students who worked on the project, recent West Michigan Aviation Academy graduate Matthew Klynstra, told FOX 17 that it was satisfying creating something that will make such a difference. "Definitely feels good to be able to help him out like that," he says.
And That's Not All!! Other Aviation Students Built A Airplane Tow Machine!
Another group at West Michigan Aviation School designed a machine that can tow a 1700 pound plane off a runway. This could increase flight take offs at smaller airports. And it's controlled remotely.
Another Aviation grad, Dan Fenton says he's out there trying to get that project sold.
"I met with a board and I also met with an engineering group based in Holland, our group did, just to get some ideas from them and implement them into our product," Fenton told FOX's Tessa DiTerro.
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