School & Family Magazine Newstand Allen ISD Winter 2017 | Page 9

A Helping
Hand
K
areena Chawla gently adjusted the tan-colored plastic
and strapped it securely into place. She sat back and
took a moment to admire her creation: a prosthetic arm
she had built with a 3D printer. A smile crept across her face as
Doug Havens, the recipient of the arm, grasped a coffee cup with
his new hand and raised it off the table.
Kareena isn’t a doctor or engineer, and she has yet to enroll in
college. She’s a senior at Allen High School in the International
Baccalaureate (IB) program who is combining her classroom
knowledge with her passion for community service to help others
live a better life.
The inspiration to help Doug came during a biomedical
engineering summer camp hosted by UT-Dallas. Kareena and
her partner were tasked with creating a wrist from a 3D printer
that could move with the help of a small motor. After two weeks
of learning a complex software system and 8 hours of printing,
the wrist was completed and an idea blossomed.
“If I can use a 3D printer to create this wrist, why can’t I print a
prosthetic for amputees in need?” Kareena thought to herself.
She soon reached out to the Dallas Amputee Network and was
put in contact with Doug, a resident from The Colony whose left
wrist had been amputated. Doug already owned a myoelectric
prosthetic arm (an artificial limb that can be controlled with
electric signals generated by muscles), but wear and tear over
the years had caused some issues. According to Doug, the
replacement cost is “similar to that of a car.”
Kareena and Doug met at a local coffee shop to discuss his
needs and usage requirements, and she took plenty of notes,
pictures, and measurements of Doug’s residual limb. Doug
was intrigued that a high school student would contact him
completely on her own and offer assistance.
“I was really curious about how this would all come together,”
Doug said. “I thought it was very neat that a young person like
herself would be so interested in helping people with missing
limbs.”
After taking the measurements, Kareena got to work. She had
to improvise with household items along the way, like using a
rolling pin to mold the printed plastic into the shape of a forearm
or threading fishing line to control finger movement. It was a
strenuous task, but one she knew would have a successful payoff.
After weeks of work
Kareena met Doug again,
on her own birthday no
less, to fit him for the new
prosthesis. A sense of relief swept over her after Doug picked up
the coffee cup. She began to think about how difficult it had been
to create the arm and how rewarding it was to see it in action.
Doug has been using the arm for several months in addition
to his myoelectric arm. He says that it can’t completely replace a
myoelectric prosthesis, but wonders if Kareena’s creation could
ultimately help others across the globe.
“She created this on her own with fairly inexpensive materials
compared to other prosthetic arms,” Doug said. “I could see
something like this being replicated for people in third-world
countries.”
Building skills to tackle global issues is a key focus in
Creativity-Activity-Service (CAS), one of the key components in
Allen High School’s IB program. CAS students are encouraged to
blend their knowledge of science, math, and other subjects with
civic engagement. Karen Hunnicutt, AHS IB teacher, says that
Kareena’s passion for learning and helping others will continue
her drive to make positive impacts on the lives of others.
To help recruit like-minded individuals to her cause, Kareena
founded an organization called The Science of Service to
empower young people to
use science, technology,
engineering and math
to help those in need. In
Kareena’s eyes, every student
has the potential to find a
way to be a positive force in
his or her community.
“Our teachers and educators have equipped us with so much
knowledge that has been left untapped,” Kareena said. “Every
child in our school system…has a special talent or skill that can
be utilized to benefit the community and those around them.”
Kareena is a senior at Allen High School. After graduation, she
plans to pursue a degree in medicine or neuroscience with the
goal of helping others. Learn more about The Science of Service at
kareenakc.wixsite.com/thescienceofservice.
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