DESIGNING FOR A BETTER LIFE

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February 15, 2022 

For information on enrollment and registration at Notre Dame, please visit the admissions section of our website here.

This semester, Notre Dame Prep's first-in-the-nation engineering and empathy class is working on developing products to assist quadriplegics and others who suffer from limb loss or paralysis.

Beginning with the 2019-2020 school year, Notre Dame began to offer a new course as part of its high school science curriculum called engineering and empathy. The class features the pedagogy of Project Invent, a nonprofit organization founded in 2016 to empower high school students to go out into their communities and invent technologies that make a difference. 

"Initially, we offered this class in the upper school for 11th and 12th grade as a science elective," Jocelynn Yaroch, then the science department co-chair, said. "We also considered at the time offering an abbreviated version as an elective for eighth grade. Louise Palardy, Notre Dame's STEM specialist and manager of the school's robotics center, is teaching the upper school class."

According to Palardy, the class involves creating an impactful technological invention, a business plan and marketing strategy. She also said NDPMA was the first school in the United States to use the program as an integral part of its in-class curriculum.

"The course follows the design cycle — with empathy added — as each invention created is driven by problems that deeply impact a person's life in the community, local or otherwise," she said. 

This semester, a group of 21 Notre Dame Prep juniors and seniors are working with a special grant through Project Invent and the Limb Kind Foundation, a Long Island, New York, nonprofit whose mission is to "improve the lives of children and adults with limb loss, both domestic and international, by strengthening the amputee community and providing prosthetic care to all." 

Specifically, according to Palardy, the students are working on inventing products that will make the day-to-day activities of quadriplegics easier and more bearable. 

"We had a virtual interview with Shelly Loose, a quadriplegic woman from Grand Rapids who had an injury that caused a broken neck 34 years ago," Palardy said. "Prior to that interview, we prepared by watching a recorded interview provided by Project Invent of a man named Jeff and his struggles as a quadriplegic."

Ardent love of neighbor

The class also had an opportunity to Zoom interview Gary Miracle, who in 2020 lost his arms and legs due to a blood infection and is now an advocate for the Limb Kind Foundation. 

"I was put in touch with Gary through Project Invent," Palardy said. "One key element that came out of our interview with him was how hard limb loss is at the beginning and that not everyone has a strong support system. This message also was clear during our interview with Shelly. 

"Since our current Marist theme is Ardent Love of Neighbor, I am hoping to ask all of the students at our school to write a letter to someone on similar journeys as Gary and Shelly who also may be looking for a way to heal and adapt to these types of situations." 

When the class in fact finally got Shelly on a Zoom call, the students took turns sitting in front of the computer and asking her questions, Palardy said. 

"They were quiet, attentive, took notes, and were visibly moved by the experience," she said. "After the interview, we discussed everything we learned about Shelly's struggles and everyone had ideas of what they wanted to learn more about and focus on." 

Palardy noted that one of the questions asked of Shelly was what she's learned since her accident and she said she is a lot tougher than she thought she was, that she has value, and that she has developed some amazing friendships. 

"One of our kids also asked her if she wished she could go back to before the accident, and she said, 'No, I like myself just the way I am.' That reply had an incredible impact on all of us and could be felt throughout the classroom."

The students now have a few areas of focus for their projects. One area of interest is Shelly's wheelchair cushion that loses air occasionally and since she has no feeling from the waist down, she cannot tell when it is deflating. Another area of focus for the students is the transition Shelly must take from her wheelchair to her shower chair.

"She has handles on the shower chair but her hands are locked in a fist position making grasping the handles nearly impossible," Palardy said. "Still another area of focus is how she can use her fists for tasks requiring fine motor skills. Our students' last area of interest is working on something to assist her in picking up things when she drops them."

Christian and community service

With the grant from Project Invent, Palardy is purchasing special supplies and equipment, including breadboards, which are thin plastic boards used to hold transistors, resistors, chips, etc., that are wired together for microcontrollers, as well as sensors for a series of activities for the students to learn about wiring, programming, inputs and outputs. She also purchased a couple of multimeters to help the students measure voltage, current and resistance.

"I am really looking forward to seeing what our students end up with for their final products," she said. "This class is still another great example of our Christian and community service mission, which emphasizes in part that when we really get to know those in the greater community who are in need, we will go that extra mile."

The students currently are in the early stage of ideation and initial prototyping and have a demo day scheduled for early April. This is where Project Invent will have investors listen to the teams' marketing pitches and decide if they'll invest in their idea. 

"This year we have a special pitch coach assigned to our school to help the students prepare," Palardy said. "Rebecca is a design program manager from Google with an abundance of product pitching and marketing experience. She is going to connect with our students during class through Zoom to give them feedback on how to improve their presentations for demo day."

For information on enrollment and registration at Notre Dame, please visit the admissions section of our website here.

Comments or questions? mkelly@ndpma.org

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About Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy
Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy is a private, Catholic, independent, coeducational day school located in Oakland County. Notre Dame Preparatory School enrolls students in grades nine through twelve and has been named one of the nation's best 50 Catholic high schools (Acton Institute) four times since 2005. Notre Dame's middle and lower schools enroll students in pre-kindergarten through grade eight. All three schools are International Baccalaureate "World Schools." NDPMA is conducted by the Marist Fathers and Brothers and is accredited by the Independent Schools Association of the Central States and the National Association of Independent Schools. For more on Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy, visit the school’s home page at www.ndpma.org.