On a recent Wednesday afternoon, technical engineering was underway at a gym just south of downtown St. Louis. Ruth Shackelford, a student at Grand Center Arts Academy, threaded a length of yarn through a cut-up plastic straw affixed to a large cardboard hand.
She and her partner, Tyesha Griffiths of Confluence Preparatory Academy, were building a functional prosthesis out of art materials. The girls pulled on the yarn attached to the straws. The fingers moved, one by one.
"When we decorate her, she's going to be even more gorgeous!" Shackelford said of the hand, which she and Tyesha named "Pañela." The hand needed a "bubbly, uplifting name," she explained.
The workshop is the brainchild of students at local universities, who founded the organization called Noorishment St. Louis. Shackelford, Griffiths and about a dozen other high school students attended Noorishment's third and final workshop of the semester. Everyone involved, including the volunteers and instructors, appeared to be under 25.
"You learn about things I didn't even know about," Shackelford said of the workshops, which this semester have also included a session on cars and bridges. "I like the creative part of it, and then the people here really encourage you to embrace that creative part of you in science."
The engineering semester marked a departure from the last two Noorishment workshop sessions, which focused more on medicine. Students in those workshops dissected a brain, completed a "stop the bleed" course and learned how to use medical equipment to check vital signs.
A late-night idea
Noorishment STL Executive Director Kinza Awais, then a pre-med student at Webster University, was up late one night when she decided she wanted to start a mentoring program.
One of her friends, Kamran Kazmi, had founded Noorishment and created its first chapter in Texas, she said.
Since it was founded in 2018, the Texas program has offered accessible science and business workshops for young adults who may not otherwise have access to hands-on STEM learning. Noorishment also connects students with mentors who can give them career advice and help with scholarships or college applications.
Awais wondered: Why not bring the organization to St. Louis, home to a half-dozen universities and world-class medical centers?
"There's so much opportunity here that I think is just getting brushed under the rug," she said.
Awais recruited volunteers and experts to serve as mentors and instructors and created a curriculum for the first session. The group partnered with the St. Louis-based social services nonprofit Lifewise STL to offer workshops to high school students enrolled in the organization's after-school program.
"[Students] go to English class, math class," she said. "But when you learn real life skills – like stopping the bleed or emergency procedures – it really makes you think 'There's more to the world than just the confinement of my classroom.'"
The first two sessions had four classes each. Each hands-on workshop is guided by an expert instructor, with volunteers assisting. Most workshops also feature a guest speaker. At the most recent event, representatives from the orthotics and prosthetics company Hanger Clinic answered questions and brought a trunk of prosthetic legs and hands for students to look at and touch.
Noorishment Community Engagement Specialist Bismah Syed, who just completed occupational therapy coursework at Maryville, said that it can be hard for students to visualize themselves in a career in medicine, science or engineering.
The workshops "challenge the idea that STEM is just a field you can only get into if you know a guy who knows a guy," she said. "We're challenging that idea by saying your passions and your desire to learn should be more than enough of a reason."
She said each session is slightly different, depending on volunteers' ideas and areas of expertise.
"We try to make every workshop as new and novel as possible," she said. "So when we reintroduce a brain dissection, we invited a neuro-based occupational therapist to come in … so the students get to have a new exposure to a different field and get to experience the workshop in a different way."
As high school students who wanted to go into health professions, Syed and Awais said they often don't know where to seek advice. Both are children of immigrants and didn't know anyone in the medical field.
"We really try to meet the students at a more of a pivotal point in their lives, so we can make the most impact," Awais said.
Nourishment has also conducted workshops for students at Cardinal Ritter College Prep. Awais said she wants the organization to eventually become available to more students and widen its scope. She envisions a dental workshop and a "future doctors" program in which students can shadow medical professionals.
Extending a hand
As the students at Lifewise wrapped up creating their prosthetic hands, the students, who started the workshop downbeat and quiet, filled the gym with a productive hum.
"Nice to meet you," 15-year-old Thomas Harrington joked, holding out one of the high-tech bionic arms the Hanger clinic representatives brought with them. With a whir, the prosthesis closed into a handshake.
Harrington, who attends Kairos academy, admits the paper-and-straw version isn't exactly as sophisticated as its high-end counterpart but still appreciated the exercise.
"It felt like I was doing something pretty nice, like I was actually making a prosthetic arm for someone in need," he said. The workshops "require everyone to be in the group and actually participating. That means we can get it done really quickly."
Shackelford and Griffiths decorated Pañela the prosthesis with a ring and claw-like nails made out of paper.
"Now she looks as beautiful on the outside as she does on the inside," said volunteer Sham Qattan.
As a final test, the teenagers used their cardboard hands to attempt picking up a glass of water. Working together, the two teammates lifted the small plastic cup as onlookers cheered.
In the beginning, "we would spend so much time perfecting our slide shows, perfecting the content," Awais said. "But I find that the students were most receptive when they had creative freedom, when we gave them the materials and were like, 'just do it.'"
Correction: This story has been updated to correctly reflect where Noorishment founders at volunteers attend school.
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