September 22, 2023 - “Trey has a big heart,” said Kim White, assistive technology specialist and also Trey’s mom. “So I wasn’t surprised at all that he wanted to do a project that benefitted my students.”
Over the summer, Trey White, senior at Affton High School, built 20 learning stands for SSD students with the help of family and a few close friends. Trey is a member of Boy Scouts for America and for his service project to become an Eagle Scout, he wanted to do something positive for SSD.
“I was trying to think of something different, but knew I wanted to help special education students,” said Trey. “Chris Beardsley, a therapy equipment designer/fabricator for SSD, created learning stands for my mom’s students last year, so I thought it would be a good idea to make more of them.”
The stands can help students who are working on power mobility. It can also provide students with more control over where they go and what they get to see. Once Trey made the idea official, he connected with Beardsley who helped him with the design.
“I drew a diagram that Trey could use to build his own version of the learning stand. I included dimensions and a parts shopping list for him to follow,” said Beardsley. “I am proud that something I built was the inspiration for such a great service project.”
After gathering supplies, Trey wasted no time getting to the fun part, the build. He said he liked being able to do something for other people while also developing a new skill.
“This was my first time doing anything like this, cutting and putting pieces together,” he said. “After my friends and I got through all the steps once or twice, we could do it without looking at the directions. We got pretty good.”
The learning stands are made of PVC pipes and some include stylish accessories like beads and curtain fringe. For students or teachers who would like to use the stands, they are available for check out in the Instructional Resource Center (IRC).
“We purposely created the stands so that staff can check them out and have activities and sensory materials ready to go,” said White. “Amy Sauvage, library media specialist, kindly allowed me to store them in the IRC and created barcodes for us so they would be ready to go.”
For more information about reserving a stand, call the IRC at 314.989.8308 or 314.989.8334.
