Students Modify Toys for Special Olympics

Electrical Trade and Alternative Energy students in Michael LoPreto’s class at Milliken Technical Center customized toys to make the controls more accessible for participants in the annual Special Olympics event at Samoset Middle School.

For the second year in a row, Electrical Trade students applied the skills and knowledge they learned in class to adapt about one dozen toys so they could be operated by students with disabilities. These future electricians took the toys apart and rewired the circuit boards to accommodate jumbo, 5-inch-round buttons, which students could easily slap or hit with a body part to elicit an action. Favorites included a football launcher, a bubble machine, and a baseball thrower.

The buttons were 3D printed by the Computer Graphic Art students in Cora Weule-Sparwasser’s class at Islip Career Center, another ESBOCES instructional building. Electrical Trade students also volunteered to help participants use the toys at every station at the event.

“It’s wonderful to see how much enjoyment this collaboration has provided our students,” said Karen Scheck, physical therapist at Samoset who worked with colleagues across the agency to coordinate participation in this event. “Students at all of the schools benefited from the experience, whether it was through learning, community service, or having a great time.”