School: Belton High School
Class: Engineering Design and Development
Instructor: Nick Civitello
Client: Hillcrest STEAM Academy
Problem: The students at Wilckens STEAM Academy at Hillcrest Elementary School in Belton, MO are provided meals through a grant program. Students simply need to eat the provided meals in order to continue the funding. Greatest participation is found when the food is brought to the classrooms, however, this can’t always happen. The cafeteria in the school where the food is prepared is in a recessed area below the main level of the school and the food needs to be brought up. The food is transported in large rolling coolers, so it is not possible to walk them upstairs. Currently, the coolers are brought up via a wheelchair lift, but this often breaks, meaning that the food cannot be brought to the classrooms and students must travel themselves for food, greatly diminishing the participation rate.
Summary of Project
Students worked with representatives of Belton School District and its Architecture firm to develop an ADA-compliant ramp system to replace the stairs in the Hillcrest cafeteria. The ramp system meets the needs of handicapped student access and also allows for the rolling food delivery coolers to exit the cafeteria in a more reliable way in order to deliver food to the classrooms and maintain high participation rates for the food program.
Key Takeaways or Advice
You really need to be patient. Students work at their pace and professionals work at theirs, creating a whole lot of hurry-up-and-wait.
Learning Standards
Students will use the Engineering Design Process to create, evaluate, and propose solutions to a real-world problem.