Final Report: 3D ThinkLink Pilot Project at PHILLIPS School Was a Success

by Lynda Mann, YouthQuest Foundation Co-Founder and President

Kudos to the PHILLIPS Programs – Annandale School for their daring pilot of The YouthQuest Foundation’s 3D ThinkLink program for students on the autism spectrum as well as students with mental health issues.  

Luke McHugh (left) and Adam Eldert
work on a 3D design

The 3D ThinkLink program’s core outcomes are to teach critical thinking skills, problem solving, and the resiliency to deal with failure. 

Our unique program delivery vehicle, CAD design and 3D scanning and printing, continues to be highly successful with high school dropouts, however this curriculum was untested with other cohorts.

After exploring possibilities with the PHILLIPS Program personnel, we all felt confident the curriculum and the teaching delivery strategies were highly appropriate for their students. But as we all know, the proof is in the pilot.

Henry Spiegelblatt watches one of
his designs being 3D printed

The PHILLIPS Program Final Evaluation Report says the pilot was a success, especially in the areas of student engagement, curriculum implementation and staff support. 
I honestly believe the increased student engagement and the successful curriculum implementation are both a result of the excellent work done by the PHILLIPS Program’s staff, especially the teaching staff – Samuel Son, Jim Field and Marcel Baynes. Their ability to recognize the innate creativity in these special needs youth, and to use the 3D ThinkLink curriculum as a valuable way for the students to express themselves creatively while facilitating growth in critical thinking and problem solving, was brilliant. 

I say this with confidence because we know all curriculum requirements were fully met. But more importantly, the parents and the students both reported not only increased 3D skills and improved problem solving, but also a greater sense of self-esteem and a higher level of confidence.
   

Samuel Son, Marcel Baynes and
Jim Field in teacher training

And how did this happen? I believe it was because the PHILLIPS Program teachers were highly engaged during their teacher training event, seeking deep knowledge and skills before the pilot launched. This high level of engagement led the teachers to create a collaborative learning environment where students felt their creativity was validated. As one student put it, “It means if you think of something really cool in your head, you can just make it.” Another shared, “Like everybody has a piece of creativity in their brain so you have to find a way to get it out (the creativity) and the class helped me to get it out.”
  
We at YouthQuest salute the PHILLIPS Designing Futures Program (3D Design and Print Program), and especially their teachers, for a job well done!

Student Snapshot: Alycia Freeman

This is the latest in an occasional series about outstanding young people who have completed our 3D ThinkLink class.

Alycia Freeman knew she was headed down the wrong path.

YouthQuest President Lynda Mann presents a
$500 scholarship to Alycia Freeman in June

Like so many of the at-risk teens we serve, Alycia was facing a combination problems at home and at school.

Her dad was doing drugs and her parents divorced when she was 13. She moved five times and skipped school often, spending most days caring for her ailing grandmother, who needed knee-replacement surgery.

“I then started to follow in my father’s footsteps,” Alycia recalled.

After a year of spiraling downward, she decided she had to change her life.

“I knew I had to be successful. I didn’t want to be a product of my environment,” she said.

Alycia enrolled in South Carolina Youth ChalleNGe Academy at the beginning of this year, determined to earn her GED. Instructors recognized her potential and selected her for the 3D ThinkLink training we provide at SCYCA.

Being in our 3D class helped her get re-engaged in education, Alycia wrote in a scholarship-winning essay about her experience. It also inspired her to study surgical technology at Savannah Technical College after completing the ChalleNGe program.

Alycia’s class visited 3D Systems headquarters in Rock Hill, South Carolina, during Vocational Orientation Day in April. She said it was eye-opening to discover how the 3D technology she learned about in class is used in the health care field.

“Being that I took care of my grandmother, I want to help others live a better life in every way possible,” Alycia explained. “3D printing encouraged me to become a surgical nurse. … I’m now motivated and determined to go to school and get into the medical field and actually complete it!”