Earlier this month, San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg put out a call to San Antonio students: come up with an idea to help San Antonio adapt to the COVID-19 crisis. Two North East ISD STEM Academy students answered the call and took home first place in the Mayor’s Challenge.
“A lot of the information that we learned in class during the distance-learning curriculum this year contributed towards the idea,” explained ninth-grader Nathan Copeland.
His and classmate Emmett Decker’s plan worked to solve several problems created by the pandemic. They wanted to figure out a way to provide personal protection equipment (PPE) to front-line workers, and they wanted to come up with a way to provide jobs to those who lost theirs during the crisis. So, they created their own economical, fully-functional 3D printer from scratch.
“We proposed building and lending out these printers to citizens willing to print PPE,” said Copeland. “Citizens would learn new, valuable digital skills, help make San Antonio safer and healthier in an unprecedented time, and even help people find a profitable hobby.”
They proposed lending out the printers and paying San Antonians to print PPE for front-line workers. This remedied all three criteria the Mayor requested. It created jobs, it provided PPE to front-line workers, and it gave people a hobby which could potentially help with stress relief.
“After COVID-19, the printers would be collected and distributed to locations like libraries and schools to help educate more people on technology,” said Copeland.
For winning the city-wide competition, Nathan and Emmett took home some cool gear, including a Google Chromebook.
Way to go, guys! And thank you for showing how #NEISDcares.
Click here to see their winning presentation
