Granbury High School

Texas Connects Us to Innovation Helping Make Life Easier for Two Puppies

The 3D printer in the engineering lab at Granbury High School is always humming as it spits out melted plastic to design specifications.

A recent project is more than a class assignment. It's helping two puppies navigate their world. 

"It's just really cool to make something like that and change a dog's life," said Jackson Martin, a senior engineering student.

The class worked on designs to make 3D-printed wheel carts to help two puppies, Will and Grace. Both where born without front legs. They were rescued by Second Chance Farm in Granbury.

"To see a puppy and make this puppy's life better," said Sandi Walker of Second Chance Farm. "To me, it'll start the spark in their mind, like 'wow! If we can do this for this puppy, puppies, what can we do for everything?'"

It took weeks of design and prototype fails to land on a wheel cart that worked for the two puppies. 

"It opened my eyes that I can definitely make mistakes," said Wade Neeper, a senior engineering student who made the first prototype, and the one that eventually worked. "I'm really proud of myself that I was able to create something and use my knowledge and put it towards something really good."

"There's a great big world out there that needs a lot of little projects like this," said Granbury High School engineering teacher Todd Gibson. "Hopefully that will just develop a need to help people in their hearts."

The students said they can learn a lot from a disabled puppy.

"That 'normal' is subjective," said Martin. "The dogs teach me that I can have fun no matter what is holding me back."

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