AUSTIN, Texas - A local high school student hopes to make a difference in the lives of amputees and those born without limbs.
- Senior Jenna Rogge found her calling creating limbs for those born without and amputees
- She uses a laser cutter, 3D printer and other tools
- She's now working on a prosthetic arm
Senior Jenna Rogge attends St. Stephen's Episcopal School in West Austin. After volunteering time at Camp No Limits, a camp for those without limbs, she realized she wanted to find a way to help others.
Rogge told her teacher, Nicole Wortham, about her goal to learn how to make 3D-printed prostheses. At the time, St. Stephen's had no way of facilitating the project.
"If you would have asked me last year, if we would be building prosthetic limbs right now. I would have said, 'No way. There is no way we are going to build prosthetic limbs here,'" said Wortham.
This year Wortham opened the "makerspace," where kids can use a laser cutter, tools, and a 3D printer. Wortham approached Rogge with open-sourced plans from an organization called Enabling the Future.
After building two hands, Rogge was approved by the organization to start making prostheses.
"My first thought was, 'How fast can we get the next one printed?" said Rogge.
She's currently working on two hands for a 45-year-old man and a 5-year-old. Rogge has begun to modify the plans herself, so the prosthetic hands are more individualized.
"My biggest goal has always been to find what I'm passionate about, and use that to help people," said Rogge. "I love how I'm able to just already do everything I love before even having to go to college."
Rogge is now working on a prosthetic arm. She hoping to be approved to start building those as well.