Expand<\/a><\/p>\nFrom a farm tractor to a dinosaur-themed Jeep and a pink, furry Paw Patrol ride, the students put their skills and creativity to work for a rewarding cause.<\/p>\n
\u201c(Cole) started this initiative in the interest of getting kids who were little to experience mobility independently,\u201d DeNaples said. \u201cHe smartly recognized that we want to get these kids moving, but it doesn\u2019t necessarily have to look like a medical device.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Sunday afternoon, the children will break through a curtain and cruise around a race track inside the Byron Center in their new wheels as their favorite song plays in the background, DeNaples said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe families get to experience their kids who have some limitation, in one way or another, be the star of the show,\u201d she added. \u201cIt\u2019s nice to see them get the spotlight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Throughout the past three years, the University of Scranton\u2019s Go Baby Go chapter modified and donated approximately 30 custom miniature cars for children mostly ranging in age from 1 to 5. This year, 70 students \u2014 across 11 majors \u2014 teamed up on the mission, university officials said.<\/p>\n
DeNaples noted outreach to area families begins each fall and the group meets with them around February to gauge their needs and preferences for the vehicles.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe students meet the families, play with the kids, and see what their likes and dislikes are,\u201d she said. \u201cWe have a\u00a0couple models for them to try out, and see what they gravitate toward. We buy the cars and the students get working for the rest of the semester.\u201d<\/p>\n
DeNaples appreciates the ongoing and growing support of the program from students in a variety of different academic fields.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first year was primarily occupational therapists, and the next year a few physical therapists,\u201d she said. \u201cThis year, we have criminal justice, counseling, allied health, mechanical engineering and electrical engineering. We put them in teams and mix them up as much as we can. We really try to get them working across their disciplines and learning from each other. I try not to micromanage; I sit back and let them figure things out.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s nice to see the students outside the classroom, but applying the knowledge they\u2019ve learned to something that is completely volunteer. It\u2019s heartwarming to see them keep showing up. It makes you realize you don\u2019t necessarily need to have money or grades as an incentive to bring out the best in people.\u201d<\/p>\n
The vehicles created through the Go Baby Go program feature modifications to improve ease of use, like replacing foot pedals with large, push-button switches on the steering wheel and adding customized seating supports<\/p>\n
A miniature car created by University of Scranton students also served as a learning tool for a child in the first cohort of the program, DeNaples noted.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe made him a joystick that powered it but also drove it,\u201d she said. \u201cHis mom said he just started using a power wheelchair and learned how to use it quickly because he had already been practicing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chang, of Elmont, New York, a senior electrical engineering major, participated in the Go Baby Go program after watching the children zoom around in their vehicles during the unveiling last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy roommate is an occupational therapy major and he was DJ\u2019ing the event,\u201d Chang said. \u201cI went with him to see what it was about and I was very intrigued. I see the impact it has on the children and how they get an opportunity to drive a car just like any other kid. This is simple circuitry that we do for these cars. It\u2019s not so complex, but you could see the little things that make people\u2019s lives better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zaic, of Spring Brook Twp., a graduate student studying occupational therapy, enjoys seeing the children let loose in their new cars.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe whole purpose is for them to have mobility they wouldn\u2019t otherwise have,\u201d she said. \u201cSo to watch them be able to drive around with their siblings, it\u2019s their first real experience of being able to be independent and move independently, it\u2019s just such a great feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kaitlyn Gelman of Hackensack, New Jersey, who is pursuing a master\u2019s degree in occupational therapy, helped DeNaples launch the program three years ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s emotional for the parents, it\u2019s emotional for everybody,\u201d she said. \u201cThe first year, I was on stage and I trying not to cry. It\u2019s such a happy day.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition to providing families with a much-appreciated gift, Gelman added the program also helps prepare students for life after graduation.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt gives us an opportunity to collaborate with all these different majors, learn about what people are doing, what people know, and then be able to apply that,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m going to work with nurses in the future and I\u2019m going to work with physical therapists, so getting to be able to work hands-on with them now is giving me practice for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SCRANTON \u2014\u00a0University of Scranton students Jayden Chang and Samantha Zaic stopped inside a workshop at Leahy Hall on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":181915,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[201,182,139,28,178,180,179,181],"class_list":["post-181914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-lackawanna-county","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news","tag-top-stories-stt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=181914"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181914\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/181915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=181914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=181914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=181914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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