SourceAmerica, an AbilityOne authorized enterprise, announced the high school team finalists of its annual SourceAmerica Design Challenge. Marquette Catholic High School’s MCHS Blue Crew Engineering Team from Alton placed as one of the top 5 finalists out of a field of more than 50 entries.
This national engineering competition highlights high school students across the country who have created an innovative process, device, system or software that helps people with disabilities overcome workplace challenges.
The MCHS Blue Crew Engineering team collaborated with Challenge Unlimited, a nonprofit organization in Alton dedicated to providing opportunities for individuals with disabilities. Challenge Unlimited employee Don Lucas was the subject matter expert for the project. The team’s goal was to create a device to improve Don’s efficiency and prevent mistakes. His task of packing boxes of shotgun shells can be hard for employees with impaired motor skills.
“We had about eight weeks to research, design and create a solution, and went through about five prototypes until we reached our final product,” Marquette student and team leader Evan Hendricks said. “It was really rewarding to see Don nod and smile as he used the device. What was even more exciting is when we witnessed Don realize that he made a mistake and correct it on his own.”
The team created a device called the Shell Shover. It guides workers with placement and orientation of the ammunition. It is color-coded and has holes of differing sizes to help employees place shells properly into the device, and in turn, pack them correctly into the box. Employees that used the device increased their speed at carrying out the process and decreased the number of errors.
As required by the competition, once students developed a piece of technology or a process designed to overcome a workplace obstacle for the person they were paired with, it was tested, used by the individual it was designed for and implemented in the workplace to assess its effectiveness. Students then submitted a video, technical paper with 3D models, worksheets and additional paperwork to complete the Design Challenge requirements.
“The SourceAmerica Design Challenge truly mimics what the productivity engineers in our Strategy and Innovation department do to create jigs, devices or software for the nonprofit agencies we work with that employ people with disabilities,” said Charissa Garcia, productivity engineer and Design Challenge manager for SourceAmerica. “It’s exciting to see students engage with a person with a disability in their community who is experiencing a challenge in the workplace and create a solution that significantly improves the person’s job proficiency. It raises awareness of the struggles people with disabilities can face in the workplace, and allows engineering students to use their ingenuity and knowledge to create their projects.”
The Marquette team will join the four other teams April 8-10 in Washington, D.C., for two days of training sessions and congressional visits on Capitol Hill. The finalists will present their projects in front of a judging panel and an audience, and will receive trophies and cash prizes.
Judges for the SourceAmerica Design Challenge include rehabilitation engineers, people with disabilities and others with relevant backgrounds. They evaluated projects based on positive impact in the workplace — job creation and retention, wage increases, production increases, contracts gained, waste reduction, stress and anxiety reduction, and improved processes.
The Marquette team includes students Evan Hendricks, Will Dixon, Joseph Grabowski, and Elizabeth Wurth. The team’s coach and engineering teacher, Michele Sands, supervised the students as they worked to create a workplace solution for Challenge Unlimited Inc. The team’s video submission can be viewed online. For more information about SourceAmerica’s Design Challenge, visit the website.