GULLIVER PREP'S JETS CLUB WINS JWOD/JETS NATIONAL ENGINEERING DESIGN
CHALLENGE
MIAMI - FEBRUARY 22, 2006
Congratulations to the Gulliver Prep's Project Lead the Way students for
winning the National Finals of the JWOD/JETS National Engineering Design
Challenge held on February 17, 2006, in Washington, D.C. This year's Design
Challenge posed a real world dilemma for the students to solve; how to help
people with disabilities enter into or perform better in the workplace.
According to the JETS proposal, their idea was to build an "arthritic"
friendly box cutter so that people would be able to perform their job in
comfort and, as a result, increase general productivity.
Gulliver was chosen as one of the top five teams and participated in the
National Finals where they presented their final prototype. Their design won
them 3000 dollars for the Engineering Department, plus a trip to the NISH
annual conference in Chicago, Illinois later this year. This is their second
Design Challenge win. "What is most impressive is the ability of the
students to come together as a team and produce a working product and a
spectacular presentation,"
says Claude Charron, Gulliver Prep's engineering teacher and JETS sponsor.
NISH is a national nonprofit agency whose mission is to create employment
opportunities for people with severe disabilities by securing Federal
contracts through the Javits-Wagner-O'Day (JWOD) Program. Providing
employment opportunities to more than 45,000 people who are blind or have
severe disabilities, the JWOD Program is the largest single source of
employment for people who are blind or have other severe disabilities in the
United States.
JETS is a nonprofit organization established in 1950 to open the world of
engineering to students, parents, and educators through academic
competitions, programs, and resources.
Gulliver Schools is a 501 (c) (3) private, not-for-profit, independent,
coeducational, nonsectarian day school with the mission of providing a
superior college-preparatory education to students whose needs encompass a
wide range of natural abilities.