Students Invent Device To Help Teacher Who Uses A Wheelchair
HAMPTON TOWNSHIP (KDKA) -- The students at Hampton Township School District in Allison Park all know who Mrs. Dolan is.
It's not because the middle school math teacher gets around in a motorized wheelchair.
But rather because of the kind of teacher she is, and the positivity she brings.
That helped motivate these two sophomores to create a device that has made a huge difference in the way this teacher is educating her classes.
"We kind-of took a glove design, and sewed the three fingers together," Hampton High School sophomore Danielle Sutterlin said.
Suttlerlin and Dakota Basista said it took them almost four months to create a glove that would allow BethAnn Dolan to use her right hand.
It's something this teacher hasn't been able to do in 14 years after she was diagnosed with Transverse Myelitis.
"It's an autoimmune disease that attacked my spinal cord, and it paralyzed me in about 15 minutes," said Hampton Middle School math teacher BethAnn Dolan.
Dolan was able to get back in the classroom and teach, but completing her duties were different and at times challenging.
But thanks to an upcoming national competition that has students creating objects to help people in need, these two immediately thought of Dolan and jumped in to help.
Their idea to make a glove was so Dolan could write again and truly live a better life.
"While it does improve her ability to do things in school, obviously, because she's able to write, and show things to her kids a lot easier. She's also able to do things at home easier," said Basista.
The competition is in April in Washington, D.C.
