Wheels Team

2012-2013 Team Members:

	Emily Tutt Hello, I’m Emily Tutt, a freshman biology major from Austin, Texas. My interest and goal with biology is to continue on to medical school and someday serve full time overseas in the humanitarian medical missions field, perhaps with organizations such as Doctors Without Borders or the U.S. Navy. I am excited to be a part of the Wheels team because it is also rooted in the desire to help improve the lives of men, women, and children around the world. I am expecting the experience that I will gain from this research, and from building relationships with the other members of the team, will be priceless for my college career and will surely stick with me for a lifetime. Traveling to Thika, Kenya, with the team in Summer 2013 will be my first experience overseas and a major step towards realizing my dream of practicing medicine and caring for people in other countries!
	Matt Sturm Hello, my name is Matt Sturm, and I am a freshman studying biology at LeTourneau University in view of pursuing a career in medicine. I grew up around wheelchairs, as three of my four siblings, John, Mark, and Chrissy, were born with a degenerative genetic disorder which required their fulltime care. Now, after learning from my siblings the deep value of every individual, whether healthy or sick, I have been blessed with the opportunity to continue sharing life with people in wheelchairs, to both serve them and learn from them on the Wheels Team. My family lives in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and I attended high school at a boarding school in Kenya. I am excited to return there again to conduct research with the team, and most of all, I am excited to see what God will do in and through us as we work!
	Anna McDonnel I’m Anna McDonnel, a junior biology student from Katy, Texas. I’m glad to be able to join the Wheels team this fall and I’m excited about how our project could ultimately help wheelchair users around the world. For a long time I’ve wanted to work to help make a difference in peoples’ lives in an international way, specifically on a project with a cross-cultural element to it, and Wheels seems like a great way to do that. I’m glad for the research that Wheels has been able to do in the past, and I’m looking forward to growing with the project as we start our study with the Motivation and Whirlwind chairs this year.
	Nicole Leman Hi, my name is Nicole Leman! I’m a kinesiology / exercise science major from Anchorage, Alaska. I’m excited about the opportunity of undergraduate research provided through Wheels. With athletic therapy and training being a couple of my long-term goals, I look forward to sharing the love of Christ with others through research. Lord willing, I plan on traveling to Kenya to serve the children of Joytown following my graduation in May 2013.

Past Wheels Team Members:

Vanessa Parra

I am a pre-physical therapy student from West Texas who traveled to Kenya with the Wheels team in the summer of 2012. Working on the Wheels team has been an eye-opening experience, broadening my knowledge of the issues in third world countries. I have gained experience with teamwork and learning how to set priorities academically and spiritually. Meeting the children in person after all the hard work from the past two semesters was the best reward God could have given me.

Playing with the children and seeing their smiles and hearing their laughter was the best part of the day over in Joytown. I was able to work firsthand with the physical therapists there and the children, which just confirmed that I am on the right path with my studies. We were able to fulfill the research we needed to give effective feedback on maintenance, design and condition to generous wheelchair providers. Joining the Wheels team has been one of the best investments I have made, because I have learned extraordinary lessons.

Stormie Goodwin

Hello, my name is Stormie Goodwin. I am a chemistry student with the aspiration to attend medical school. I am planning to graduate from LeTourneau in the spring of 2015. Being a member of the Wheels team has offered a unique experience of bringing together research and ministry. Having the opportunity to integrate God’s work into research is amazing! In the summer of 2012 God blessed me with an amazing trip to Kenya with the Wheels team to study energy cost of pediatric wheelchairs and to verify the use of a questionnaire with children in wheelchairs. It was such a blessing working with the staff and children at Joytown in Thika, Kenya.

In addition to the valuable knowledge we gained from our research, we also learned what it looks like to truly serve others from observing the staff and children at Joytown. While in Kenya, we also had the opportunity to observe physical therapists and surgeons at work, tackling medical conditions we don’t often see in the States. It was an educational and spiritual experience. It was really neat to see firsthand the positive impact the Wheels team and its partners are making in Kenya for children in pediatric wheelchairs.

Kristen Huff

I’m a junior pre-PT biology student. I am from Houston, Texas, and I traveled with the Wheels team in the summer of 2012. After hearing so much from other students who have been a part of the project, it was an eye-opener to actually travel to Joytown and spend time there myself. The first day we toured Joytown, I had such a conflicting mixture of emotions that I couldn’t even respond to it. The absolute happiness that those beautiful children tackle every day with baffled me and made me feel even more privileged to be there and try to help them to have a better life in some small way.

I was able to work with therapists and other health professionals during the trip who offered a wealth of information pertaining to the degree I am pursuing. I made friends I will never forget and learned lessons in Kenya that will last a lifetime. It is my hope that one day I will be able to go back again and impact even more lives. In the meantime, I will continue to work toward my degree so that I can become as effective as possible in service.

Alex Ott Soliz

My name is Alex Soliz, and I had the privilege of traveling to Kenya as a part of the Wheels team. It was so exciting to finally see the fruits of all our hard work and research over the months in the hundreds of smiling faces at Joytown Primary School. Not only did we get the chance to talk to the children about their wheelchairs and help them get better ones in the future, we got to play with them and laugh with them and make memories that will undoubtedly last a lifetime.

This research project is so much bigger than a few data runs. It's impacting the lives of children around the world, as well as the LETU students who are blessed to be able to work with them.

Kyle DeVries

I’m a mechanical engineering student from Southwest Michigan who traveled with Wheels to Kenya in May of 2012. Working with Wheels has given me some of the greatest memories in my life so far. Traveling to Kenya showed me that culture has everything to do with how you live your life. The culture in Kenya was unlike anything I have ever experienced and I found that after some struggling, I could meld right in with the local community. Work was very demanding. Other than sleeping and eating, it was work, work, work — and I loved it.

We accomplished so much and helped so many children. In return, the children that I worked with taught me how to be happy with where I am and to be grateful with what I have. Most of the work I did while at Joytown was fixing broken or damaged wheelchairs that the children were using and to insure mechanical safety for the data collection process. I have been deeply blessed by this experience and have found greater enjoyment in all of my work because of this opportunity.

Jill Brady

I’m a pre-physical therapy / kinesiology student from Nebraska who traveled to Kenya in the summer of 2012. Through the I team, God gave me numerous opportunities! I learned how to implement research by writing scientific papers, conducting data runs, utilizing computer programs and analyzing data. Once in Kenya, I got to see firsthand how the research was benefitting the children from Joytown Primary School. It is amazing how one wheelchair can really make a difference in a child’s everyday life.

Not only did we have the chance to shadow physical therapists at Joytown, but we also got to observe surgeries and tour the mission hospital in Kijabe. I will never forget the wonderful experiences I had in Kenya, and am excited to apply what I learned from the Wheels project to my future schooling and career.

Sam Nemati

I’m a pre-med student from California who traveled with Wheels in the summer of 2011. The Wheels project gave me an incredible opportunity to go to an emerging country, learn to serve people there medically, and use the tools God built into me to serve Him with in a whole new way. However, our trip to Kenya was not fun and games – it was perhaps the hardest three weeks of my life. I had learn how to cope with the foreign culture, quickly get as much data collected as possible, and to simply love children from backgrounds I don’t have. But fun things happened on top of collecting data for our study; I got to shadow medical missionaries in hospitals, physical therapists fit children to their assistive devices, and actually learn what it is like to be a medical missionary.

All our data is currently in process of being published; which is very exciting as well, since we get to become more and more a part of the global scientific community seeking to help improve medical needs of people in less-resourced settings. Overall, this trip taught me to give my all to a cause greater than myself, and to submit to doing things that could truly create a global impact to children worldwide. 

Taylor Geyman

I am a pre-dental/biology major from Northern Idaho who traveled with Wheels in the summer of 2011. Working on the Wheels team taught me important time management skills, the value of collaborating with other people, and the importance of communication. Travel to Kenya in the summer of 2011 opened my eyes to the vast need for healthcare in underdeveloped countries and the endless opportunities to fill the need.

While in Kenya, I was able to observe health professionals exemplify professional and compassionate healthcare in an underserved area of the world. The children at Joytown taught me compassion and joy by their interaction with one another, and I was blessed to be able to be a part of their lives and to be a part of what God is doing through the Wheels Project.

Elizabeth Richardson

I’m a pre-nursing student from Alaska who traveled with the Wheels team in the summer of 2010. Being a part of the Wheels team was a very influential experience in my life. Not only did I gain valuable academic experience as far as research is concerned, but I also learned about the needs of people around the world. Through my work on the Wheels team, I was blessed with the opportunity to offer assistance and love to children and adults in need of something I take for granted every day – mobility.

This experience broadened my view of what needs have been left unmet around the world, while at the same time allowing me to personally play a role in beginning to meet one of those needs. I will treasure my time with Wheels, especially the time spent working in Kenya, for the rest of my life!

Rachel Follingstad

I’m a student in the doctorate of Physical Therapy graduate program at Texas Women’s University who traveled with the Wheels team in the summer of 2010. As I look back on my Wheels experience I see what a defining impact it has had on many aspects of my life. From an educational point of view it has taught me the process of and importance of research. All medical fields are currently changing to practicing in an evidence based manner, and this has prepared me well as I start on my journey to becoming a physical therapist. The Wheels experience also set me apart as I interviewed at different physical therapy schools. There is limited research that can be carried out pertaining to PT at the undergraduate level, and this project was perfect for that.

The Wheels experience also helped me grow as a person. It challenged me in different ways to trust fully in God and do my best, but also to realize and trust that He is in control and will provide when there seems to be no possible way. Wheels also helped to fan the flame of my passion to work overseas and use physical therapy for those who need it desperately in third world countries. I am sure there are many benefits I am yet to realize, I know that it has prepared me very well for whatever God has planned. I am very thankful for the Wheels team, and though it was a challenge, it was a challenge that was more than worth it.