友愛的“手”

Abagael Spalding

Sergio was born with a right hand that was not fully formed, but he was used to it and adapted to doing everything with his left hand, including writing.He even managed to carry his books and water bottle to class,one-handed.

But being the new kid in school made Sergio very self-conscious.“In the first days of school, I honestly felt like hiding my hand,”he said.But Jeff Wilkins, a teacher at the high school, who found out the secret,asked his engineering class to help.

The class had access to online models and a 3D printer to work with and didn't know if the end product would actually function.After four weeks of working on the robotic hand and sizing it to Sergio's hand,they put the prototype to test with a game of catch.This was something that Sergio wasn't able to do one-handed.The robotic hand passed with flying colors when he was able to catch the ball.

One of the students, Leslie Jaramillio,said that the project served the spirit of the engineering class.He said,“You're supposed to be engineering, coming up with new ideas, solving issues to make things better than ever before.”

Besides making the prosthesis（假體）,the class befriended Sergio and helped him adjust to the new school in ways he never expected.“I never expected this.I lived without a hand for 15 years and they actually offered me two, which is actually pretty cool.No one has ever offered me this stuff,”Sergio said.

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What did Sergio think of what his classmates did for him?

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