This spring, a group of students at Hastings Middle School will become the newest members of the e-NABLE community.  The e-NABLE community is a group of people from around the world working to provide free prosthetics for families in need.  Students will take part in every part of the prosthetic building process, they will help modify, print, build and test each hand.  After building a prototype hand, they will be matched up with a family in need and build a custom fit prosthetic hand.  Through this process they will learn about the emotional and monetary costs of needing a prosthetic, the importance of teamwork, and most importantly how good it feels to help someone in need. Students will also be mentored online by a class of eighth grade students in Wisconsin who have already assembled and donated a hand to a young girl in California. 

          The Middle School recently received a generous grant for three 3D printers and filament, the plastic needed to print.  These machines will be used for the printing of the prosthetics in an enrichment course which aims to give students experience in engineering.  The only other cost to the program is the additional assembly kits which include materials such as gripping finger tips, elastic cords and tensioner kits.  Each of these kits will run anywhere from $25.00-$35.00 depending on the model of hand built. If you are interested in learning more about the e-NABLE community, check out their website at http://enablingthefuture.org/.