Braylen’s KAPRI-1000 An EAST Project from Sonora Middle School
Goal of the Project: Our goal is to help someone who is just like us that is facing some struggles. We want to give back to our community and make someone feel less awkward about their challenges and to show them that people care even if we are miles away from each other.
Give us your elevator pitch of the project. Braylen is a boy who lives in Texas. His mother reached out to us through our social media and through a Friend of EAST to get in touch with us about helping her son. When Braylen was a baby, he had multiple strokes and could no longer use one of his arms. He is still a normal 12 year old boy who loves sports, especially soccer, but sometimes needs help with certain things. One of those things is opening a Capri Sun. At his soccer games, they give out Capri Suns and he doesn’t like to ask for help to open it, so we are designing a 3D printed tool that will hold the Capri Sun for him.
Who are the student project leaders (please include name, grade, and how long they have been in EAST)? Corbin Sandy (leader) 7th grade in EAST for 6 years, Noel Rodriguez 7th grade in EAST for 2 years, Noah Hodge 7th Grade in EAST for 6 years, Dixie Stevens, Jewel Johnson in EAST for 1 year.
Where did the project idea originate? This is a project where the family reached out to us for help. We received his mom’s message when schools shut down at the end of last year, but we knew it was something we wanted to do as soon as we could. We have all been interested in 3D printing for a while so we worked on designs and talked through ideas as a program this summer and got right to work when we were back in the classroom. 6
EAST QUARTERLY | EASTinitiative.org
What inspired you to complete the project? If it is not complete, what inspires you to keep going? I am inspired to finish the project because you can’t give up just when it’s hard, you have to power through. We can relate to him. We are also 12, and we also love soccer. If we can make a difference for someone, we should no matter if they go to our school, live in our town or even our state. Getting to meet people and help them is the best part of EAST.
What challenges have you encountered in trying to complete the project? When you think about the project, it almost seems too easy. He just wants something to hold it while he puts the straw in, but when you break it down and think about why he needs help, it really becomes much more difficult than we originally thought. Our challenge was making it portable and not something that will draw attention to the fact that he needs help but also make it work for what he needs. He could ask for help from a teammate but doesn’t want to. It has also been hard learning how to use Fusion 360 software and learn how to print it. We were able to attend a student training that really helped us get going this year. Drew Wallis, at MakerMade, has been a big help in learning about what was not working with our printer and about the design process.
