When three engineering students from Colorado State University were told that they didn’t have to finish the build of their capstone project due to COVID-19, they knew that they were going to finish it anyways.
Paige Floyd, Renee Farnes, and Nick Krekeler were in the middle of their last semester at CSU when their campus was shut down due to COVID-19.
Their classes were now being held online and many of the students were told that they could go home to their families to finish out the year.
According to CSU, “Earlier this spring, CSU senior engineering students were all in the throes of capstone projects known as Senior Design…But when the COVID-19 pandemic abruptly sent most students away from campus in March to finish the semester online, the physical-build aspect of most senior design projects this year was shuttered. Students were graded on the merits of their work without being required to complete their builds.”
However, Floyd, Farnes, and Krekeler were already too invested in their project to just walk away now.
They had been working on a swing for a client who is on the autism spectrum.
27-year-old Dylan Bush is a local resident of Fort Collins, Colorado and he loves to swing.
The only problem is that most public swing sets aren’t made for someone of Dylan’s size.
So the three students decided that they would build him a swing-set right in his front yard.
The team got to work in the heat of July and began to see their year-long vision start to take shape.
Dylan and his mother watched as the team constructed what would soon be his very own swing.
His mother told reporters, “When you have a child like Dylan, you always wish for other people to see them the way you see them. [The students] asked questions and seemed to want to be with him. It was just a really good feeling that they weren’t here just for themselves to get their project done. They seemed happy to be here and meet him and talk with us.”
After a couple of days of construction, the swing set was finally completed and the team got to watch Dylan enjoy his new front-yard swing.
You can see the joy on Dylan’s face as he takes his first few swings.
Krekeler told reporters, “Watching our client truly enjoy his new swing with grace was so surreal to me; that is the part of engineering I love. Knowing that my hard work and skillset not only improved another person’s life, it also left a lasting positive impact.”
It’s stories like these that remind us how important it is to continue to stay selfless during these trying times.
The students could have just gone home and called it a wrap on their project.
Instead, they hung around longer than they needed to, did more work than they needed to, and made a lasting impact for one deserving individual.
So check out the video below and make sure to share it with someone else as well.
And the next time that you have the ability to help someone out, don’t hesitate to do so.
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
