PINE GROVE — The gift Andrew Joseph “A.J.” Mindy received from a fellow student made the Pine Grove Area seventh-grader feel like “Iron Man.” For him, and sixth-grader Casandra “Cassie” Stewart, it opened the door for more musical pursuits.
Nicholas Brown, a Pine Grove Area High School freshman, on Tuesday presented Andrew and Casandra with new prosthetic hands he created using the district’s 3-D printer. The three were recognized during an end-of-year awards ceremony at the high school. Family members of the students and representatives from the Pine Grove Area School District, the Armed Forces, the state Department of Education and the Pennsylvania State Education Association were in attendance to honor the collaborative work.
Andrew’s mother, Susan Mindy, a senior staff sergeant serving with the Air Force in Kuwait since January, had the opportunity to see her son’s prosthesis via a video conference chat.
Brown received a standing ovation for his efforts and awards from PDE, Rep. Mike Tobash, R-125, and the state House of Representatives and the school district.
“I would like to present you with this plaque for all of your dedication and your innovative work in designing and producing these prosthetics. You’ve done a great job. I appreciate all of your hard work,” high school technology teacher Bradley Fessler said as he presented the district award to Brown.
Brown, 15, is a son of Christopher and Katthleen Brown, Pine Grove.
He said he designed the prosthetics in a basic computer-aided drafting class. It was his first time using the Solidworks software and the 3-D printer, called “Mak R Bot.” Fessler said the prosthesis were made of polylactic acid plastic. Then, they were coated with epoxy.
The idea for the prosthesis came about after Rebecca Pugh, the middle school general music teacher, noticed Andrew and Casandra’s interest in playing instruments. Both currently play the trumpet in the school band. Pugh contacted Fessler to see if there was anything that could be developed to assist them to possibly play the guitar or drums.
“It started with Ms. Pugh, who told Mr. Fessler, who came to me, and I agreed,” Brown said.
Mastering the software technology was his biggest challenge, he said.
“Learning how to do it first because I had no idea how to use the software. Everything was new. After a while, it became a lot easier,” Brown, who has an interest in electrical and mechanical engineering and robotics, said.
Brown started working on the project at the end of the first semester in October and November and worked on it the whole last half of the school year. He said he didn’t know Andrew or Casandra before he started, but later found out that his brother, Alexander Brown, was friends with A.J.
“The first time I saw them was in February or March when I went to the middle school for their fitting. I didn’t have to do much after the fitting, but I did lengthen it. Just the back. Their arms were longer than the prosthetic, so to add more stability, I lengthened it,” he said.
There were five prototypes, he said.
Brown said the staff and students have been supportive of the effort.
“Lots of them congratulated me, and they really liked how I was helping other people,” he said.
Andrew, 13, is the son of Mark and Susan Mindy. He demonstrated his new prosthetic and its attachments to his mother Tuesday after Fessler coordinated the chat.
“We communicate with her with an app on our cellular devices, but we really don’t get to see her too much,” Andrew said, after heading to the library for a community press conference.
“The tech teacher contacted my dad and said we’d like to do this, so, I agreed,” Andrew said.
“I honestly don’t need a prosthesis because I can do 95 percent of the things that anyone else can do,” he said, noting playing the drums was something he always wanted to pursue.
“I wanted to play the drums, so I got a roll of Scotch tape and I taped a drumstick to my nubby, and I tried to play the drums with it. But, it’s Scotch tape, and it’s not going to last forever,” he said.
“All I do now is slide it (the drumstick) in and tighten the screw. I never saw this until today. They had five prototypes, and I believe they showed us three of them. They fitted us, then they measured for our attachments, and then this,” he said, smiling, as he held up his completed, prosthetic hand.
Andrew and Casandra were able to choose the exterior color. Andrew picked the Cardinals’ school color, maroon, while Casandra selected pink.
“It was Mr. Fessler’s idea to get it metallic, which I think was a really good touch. Now, I kind of consider myself Iron Man,” Andrew said. “I want to see if I can talk my dad into getting a drum set.”
Several of Andrew’s family members attended the presentation, in addition to his father. They included his aunt, Carol Mesa, North Carolina, who’s been staying with Andrew’s family since his mother’s deployment; his grandmother, Thelma Laudermilch, Pine Grove; and uncles and aunts, Keith Laudenmilch and Dru Ann Poda-Laudermilch, both of Pottsville; Ron and Tina Kocher and William Kocher, all of Pine Grove.
Casandra, 12, a daughter of Nikki and Michael Stewart, Pine Grove, also greeted members of the media and well-wishers in the library. She said learning of the prosthetic hand was a surprise.
“My mom was on the phone, and she was being all secretive and I didn’t know what was going on. When she hung up, I started bugging her to tell me, and she told me that they’d try to make a prosthetic, so I could play guitar,” she said.
“I think the sound the guitar makes is really, really cool. I play trumpet, and that’s really all. I tried to play guitar before, and the same with drums,” she said.
Nikki Stewart said the school cleared everything with the family before the project began.
“Mr. Fessler had called and he wanted to make sure that it would be OK to use Cassie, and he didn’t want to step on any toes or cause hurt feelings or have anyone be offended, and it just went from there. We met one day to get an idea of how it would look, and this is the first I’ve seen it since that day. It’s different, we have to figure out how to use it, but if it serves a purpose that she can practice on a guitar, that will be great,” Nikki Stewart said.
“I saw two or three prototypes before this. The original one was gray, and they added other new things. That was really cool, I hadn’t expected the drumsticks. I played the bongos, but not with sticks,” she said after seeing the sticks had been included with the storage case for the prosthesis and attachments.
“In music class, she (Ms. Pugh) has this thing where the whole class plays guitar and different things, and I didn’t really know how ... the same thing with the piano. So it’s just really cool now that I can play guitar and drums.”
Her mother said the family went to Shriners Hospital for Children in Philadelphia and had previously received a cosmetic prosthetic hand for Casandra.
“You could move these two fingers to hold stuff, but it was really hard,” Casandra said.
“You had to pry it open, and no sooner that she had it, she grew out of it,” her mother said.
Her father said they had looked at a fully functional hand that was printed from a 3-D printer, too, but that was about a year and a half ago, the last time they visited Shriners.
They discussed getting Casandra fitted with a cable prosthesis, where she would wear a harness.
“We could go back and get her fitted for it, if it was something that she’d want us to do. We’re looking into different options. We’re grateful to Shriners,” her mother said.
The family appreciates what Brown has done, they said.
The first thing Casandra plans to do when she gets her prosthetic hand home: “I’m going to try to play the drums.”
The assembly drew a crowd of classmates and community leaders, who watched a video, detailing the project. Fessler made a grant application to the Pine Grove Area Education Foundation to obtain the 3-D printer for his classroom. This is the first year the printer has been used. During the video address, Pine Grove Area High School Principal Michael Janicelli said, “When students help other students, that’s what education is all about.”
“This is amazing,” said David Volkman, executive deputy secretary of the state Department of Education, who was representing Secretary of Education Pedro A. Rivera, at the awards ceremony. “I want to congratulate our very talented young man.”
Volkman did a little research and shared an interesting discovery.
“Your generation of young people is actually going to be the most intelligent. Did you know that? Recent assessments tell us that this generation will be the most intelligent in American history,” he said.
“Also, your generation is going to have to match the challenges that comes to the United States from other nations because of our global economy. You also have to be on the cutting edge of bio- and nanotechnology. Why? Think about this. Next year, 90 percent of the world’s scientists and engineers will be coming from Asia,” Volkman said.
Volkman said most of the students present aren’t going to start to work until they’re 21, due to their education effort. The average American a century ago, he said, began working when they were 14.
“The downside is, you’re going to have to work longer than anybody else in American history. You folks are projected to live to be about 107 years old. So, you have a very long, and challenging and rewarding career ahead of you,” he said.
Volkman introduced Judd Pittman, the special advisor to the secretary on STEM education.
“As we move forward, there’s going to be more opportunities for you to engage in jobs that are going to require skills in science, technology, engineering and math,” Pittman said. “One of the most important parts of those jobs will be that you’re critical thinkers, and that you can persevere, and keep trying and keep going at projects and new ideas. That is exemplified by the prototype process that Nick and (Mr. Fessler) put together. I think each of you needs to make sure you’re engaged in those types of processes.”
Pittman said students will need to have a stick-to-it attitude to be successful in the global marketplace.
“In your future in Pennsylvania alone, there’s going to be 350,000 jobs that are innovative jobs that are going to require these skills,” Pittman said.