JWOD/JETS National Engineering Design Challenge Finalists—All Winners
Gulliver Preparatory Takes the Gold

High School Students Use Math and Science to Design Award Winning Technological Solutions and Help People with Disabilities in the Workplace

Alexandria, Va. (March 6, 2006) — NISH-Creating Employment Opportunities for People with Severe Disabilities and JETS, the Junior Engineering Technical Society, has announced Gulliver Preparatory of Pinecrest, Fla., as the first place winner of the first annual JWOD/JETS National Engineering Design Challenge (NEDC). Gulliver’s winning invention, the “Simple Electronic Ergonomic Box Opener,” will help people with arthritis or carpal tunnel syndrome to open boxes safely by allowing users to open boxes without straining the fingers. The device employs sophisticated electronic components and programming to control the cutting blade and ergonomics concepts in the casing design.

JETS revamped its existing annual design competition this year to reflect a new partnership with NISH and the Javits-Wagner-O’Day (JWOD) Program. The annual JWOD/JETS NEDC challenged students to design and build technological solutions that empower people with disabilities to enter or advance in the workplace.

The Gulliver team received its first place award during an awards banquet held on Feb. 17 in Washington, D.C. Phil Kosak, president, Carolina Fine Snacks, and immediate past chair, NISH Board of Directors and Robert Allen, JETS president, presented the award to Gulliver and also recognized four additional finalists for their outstanding entries. Staples High School, Westport, Conn., received second place for its design of the “EZFile System;” Wallenpaupack Area High School, Hawley, Penn., received third place for its design of the “All Purpose Photoelectric Counter;” the Bacon Academy of Colchester, Conn., received an honorable mention for “The Handy Grip;” and Upper St. Clair High School, Upper St. Clair, Penn., also received an honorable mention for the “Easy Access Chair.”

Leann Yoder, JETS executive director, declared the first joint JWOD/JETS competition a tremendous success. “We couldn’t be more pleased with the results of our pilot program for the new NEDC,” she said. “It was an exciting event. It’s great to see how enthusiastic and engaged all the teams were in learning about engineering, building their prototypes and presenting them.”

Also pleased with the results of the first joint NEDC, Bob Chamberlin, NISH president and CEO, suggested that the outstanding designs created by the participants could have a profound impact on the lives of people with disabilities. “These prototypes can empower people with disabilities to participate more fully in society, especially as it pertains to employment, in a way that many citizens take for granted.”

NISH and JETS designed the competition to address real concerns for Americans. A critical need exists to encourage American innovation and improve K-12 science, technology, engineering and mathematics education; a theme reinforced in President Bush’s 2006 State of the Union address and a new report by the National Academies, “Rising Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future.” In addition, designing technology for people with disabilities is a necessary factor in overcoming the 70 percent unemployment rate for people with disabilities. This year’s JWOD/JETS NEDC addressed both of these challenges.

The competition provided students an opportunity to apply to real life what they’ve been learning in the classroom while exploring engineering as a career choice. “In my school we have a lot of biology, chemistry, physics, and a lot of elective science courses,” said Elizabeth Marshman, a member of the Staples High School finalist team. “But we don’t have any applied science courses. We learn material, but never use it to build anything or solve an actual situation. The fact that I had an opportunity to use the skills now [in NEDC] definitely excites me about a career in engineering.” Students participating in the JWOD/JETS NEDC also learned that technology can increase productivity, boost salaries and effectively level the playing field for people with disabilities.

JETS’ mission of helping students gain real-world engineering experiences is a key component of the JWOD/JETS NEDC competition. “This is the most real-world like competition out there,” said Claudio Di Leo, captain of the Gulliver Preparatory team. “You make an invention, you write a report about it, and you present it. And that’s what the world’s about. You engineer something and get people to see its uses.”

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 for its network of more than 600 community-based, nonprofit agencies. For more information about JWOD/NISH, please visit www.nish.org or www.jwod.gov.

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, please visit www.jets.org to learn more.

For details about the NECD, please visit http://www.jets.org/programs/nedc/index.cfm.

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