PASCO COUNTY, Fla. — A couple of Cypress Creek High School seniors recently took their engineering class to a whole new level, taking what they learned, and applying it in a real life setting, to help one of their fellow students.
You can take Liam Dzanan and Gabriel Linck out of the engineering lab, but that doesn’t mean they still aren’t thinking about their next big project.
“Something I’ve always dreamed of is being able to impact my community in the utmost way possible,” said Linck.
So when Gabriel and Liam saw that fellow student Lizvelisse Ortiz was in need of a new tray for her wheelchair, it was an opportunity to put their knowledge to the test.
“Being in a wheelchair she wasn’t able to simultaneously hold anything and wheel herself at the same time so she was in need of something that was an aid that could hold things and be her hands while she moved,” said Linck.
“And as engineers we have to be natural problem solvers so we saw this as a big opportunity to prove ourselves and everything we learned in our prior engineering classes led us up to this moment,” said Dzanan.
After more than two months of designs and prototypes, drilling and cutting, Liam and Gabriel finally had the picture-perfect tray.
“Seeing her use it and seeing how happy she was to be able to do what she wanted to do really made a big impact,” said Dzanan. “In fact the day of, I was walking into the cafeteria and I actually saw her using it to hold her lunch while she was eating, so that was really nice.”
Lizvelisse, who is part of the Free and Appropriate Public Education Program, says the tray has been a huge help when it comes to her professional work skills training at the cafeteria
“I like this tray because I love it, it’s so good, it helps me out a lot,” said Ortiz.
Cypress Creek High School said a story with this much love and empathy just had to be shared with ABC Action News.
“I’m so proud of them. They are my best friends. I love them so much. They are my heroes,” said Ortiz.
Lizvelisee even invited her heroes at school to meet her heroes at home, her mom and nanny.
“Its been a big help because especially around home when she is eating, when she is doing homework,” said her mom.
“Giving it to her, how happy she was about it, she couldn’t stop saying, ‘I’m so happy,’ it was truly a life changing experience,” said Linck.
