ARDEN HILLS, Minn. — In all his years in Mounds View schools, not once has Ian Fallgatter felt excluded.
Not bad for a high school junior born with spina bifida who’s been in a wheelchair since age two.
But Ian’s perfect record of inclusion was threatened when he signed up for a shop class.
“It’s called ‘How to Make Almost Anything,’” Ian explained as he darted in his wheelchair from orchestra rehearsals to the school’s Engineering and Technology Department.
As Ian arrived in the shop to start the semester, he spotted a problem.
The machines in the shop stood nearly three feet tall, several inches above the seated position in his wheelchair.
“I just didn’t see how I could manage it,” he said.
Teacher Tim Berndt saw it too.
“I just kept thinking about, he’s got so much work to do in here – and what are we going to do?” Dr. Berndt said.
That’s when Dr. Berndt approached Izzy Goldenstein and Pretti Thao.
“We were like, OK, we’ll do this for sure,” Pretti said.
“We were both in a class with Ian last September, so we knew him,” Izzy added.
The Mounds View High School seniors started sketching designs for a ramp.
They researched other ramps to make sure theirs would comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The pair refined their design using 3D modeling software.
Then, Izzy and Pretti made a scale model of their ramp using one of the school’s 3D printers.
Dr. Berndt wasn’t surprised by the girl’s commitment to the project. Both, he said, are high achievers.
“I knew when I presented it, I just let them go,” he said.
The girls also consulted with Ian to make sure the ramp fit his needs. As construction started, Ian came to the shop for fittings.
“It became more real then,” Izzy said. “It was, we’re making it for him and not just some random person.”
Izzy and Pretti decided to build the ramp in two pieces, allowing the platform to be moved closer to, or even under, certain machines. They reasoned a two-piece ramp would also be easier to move.
“They’re really great people,” Ian said of Izzy and Pretti. “They’re smart girls.”
Izzy and Pretti sawed the wood for the ramp and set the screws that holds it together.
“I can’t stress enough that they did all the work,” Dr. Berndt said. “My role was just running to the lumberyard and getting them materials.”
Once finished, the ramp gave Ian the extra inches he needed to reach every tool in the school shop.
Ian can only imagine what life in the shop would be like without it.
“Yeah, I’d be painting like this,” said Ian, lifting his hands to forehead height.
The girls are delighted to see Ian using their creation.
“It felt like our hard work paid off at the end, seeing him use it,” Pretti said.
“I’m happy that I’m helping a friend of mine,” Izzy added.
Dr. Berndt said one thing he can’t teach is empathy, though out in the shop he now sees a prime example of it.
“It’s a proud moment for me really,” he said.
Score one for higher education.
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