Marquette Area Public Schools on Monday dedicated a new 3-D printer to a former student, Joe Olson, who — after being paralyzed from a diving incident just before graduation — went on to create patented custom-fitted handgrips for powered wheelchairs using 3D printing. (Journal photo by Ryan Jarvi)

MARQUETTE — Barriers to success come in all kinds of different forms, and for Marquette Senior High School alumnus Joe Olson, it came as a broken neck.

A diving accident just two weeks before his high school commencement left Olson, a 1999 MSHS graduate, paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair.

But since then, he’s gone on to become a mechanical engineer living in Baltimore, Maryland, and an inventor, having just received a patent on custom-fitted handgrips for a powered wheelchair that he created using 3-D printing.

To honor his effort, donations were used to purchase a new 3-D printer for MSHS that will bear his name, and was presented to the Marquette Area Public Schools Board of Education at its meeting Monday.

Olson wasn’t able to attend, but in a letter — read aloud by MSHS teacher Becky Simmons — he discussed being part of the “maker” movement, in which people essentially use technology to create new devices or improve existing ones.

“Today’s culture tries to convince us that we must buy what they have decided we want for the purpose they intended and is trying to make us forget we can create,” he wrote. “Being a maker runs against that. You too, can matter if you want to. You can create no matter your physical abilities or geographic barriers.”

Simmons is also director of the MAPS Makerspace, a lab where five of the district’s 12 3-D printers are used by students to create. And similar to what Olson did, Simmons said her students recently made customized devices.

“The students made prostethic arms using household items and/or 3-D-printed items, so some of them actually designed parts for that,” she said. “It’s kind of a complex science. It looks so simple, and it was a lot more difficult, I think, than some of them thought.”

Former MSHS teacher Elsa Clement, who was credited for being a driving force behind MAPS’ 3D printing program, told board members some of the earliest printers she bought for the school were purchased with Olson in mind.

“Simply stated, since we will all face disabilities in our lives, it is in everyone’s best interest to support such technology,” she said.

Olson’s parents, Jon and Janet Olson, described their son as a humble guy, and as someone who wouldn’t let a physical impairment keep him from succeeding in life.

“He doesn’t want to be known for his disability,” Jon said. “He wants to be known for his ability and the things that he can do, not the things that he can’t do, and in that regard, I think he is an inspiration. There’s a lot of things that people can’t do, but there’s a lot of things you can do, and you should do those well.”

In his letter, Olson reflected on his youth in the “remote” Marquette area and at MSHS, describing it as one of the closest things he’s encountered to a “true meritocracy,” where people are rewarded for their talent and work, rather than race, gender or family connections.

Janet said her son was proud to grow up where he did, and that he didn’t want to be pitied or thought of as “something special.”

“When people look at somebody in a wheelchair, a lot of people see a wheelchair, and they don’t know where to look … But Joe said ‘I didn’t start out disabled, so I don’t think about myself as disabled,'” she explained, adding that he’s actually quite humorous and light-hearted. “He teases people oftentimes … One of the best ones was someone said, ‘Oh, Joe, you’re so funny. Have you ever thought of being a stand-up comedian?’ And he goes, ‘Yeah, that would be great!’ That’s the way he is.”

Calling his son an inventor, Jon said Olson is continuing to work on new designs for various devices, such as a prosthetic arm, that can be used to improve the lives of those with disabilities.

“I think a lot of people don’t realize how tough it can be,” Jon said. “Some people crumble, and like I told him, I says, ‘A lot of people would look at the world through the bottom of a bottle in your situation — or you can try to push it as far as you can go,’ and well, he’s been pushing.”

Currently, being a maker is a hobby, not a profession, Olson wrote. But that hurdle, and other barriers to the “maker movement” will be cleared by makers across the entire country, including those in the remote Marquette area, he said.

“Technology has enabled this communication,” Olson wrote, “much as these 3-D printers will enable these and future students who live in a forgotten corner of the U.S. to participate in a global discussion of what creation will be and what it means to create.”

Ryan Jarvi can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 270. His email address is rjarvi@miningjournal.net.