Teens in a Rochester charter school haven’t had a summer break — because they have been up to something amazing to help children.

This summer, 12 students at Vertus Charter School were selected to work on the e-NABLE Project, which creates prosthetic hands for kids. The prosthetic limbs are made with 3D printers.

Students in the project are paid by a summer city youth employment program. Their job is to print the 20 to 30 pieces that make up each hand and then assemble them.

“We can build stuff for kids and they enjoy them,” said Justin McGill, a ninth grader in the program.

The hands aren’t just about helping children — and adults — regain the use of a limb, though. Some of them are designed to look cool, too.

“Sometimes we have different types of prototype designs for kids,” McGill explained. “You know how kids like superheroes? We had designs on the 3D printer that we could make superhero hands like Spiderman.”

The program was founded by Rochester Institute of Technology professor Dr. John Schull and receives help from third-year RIT engineering student Elizabeth Jackson.

McGill says that the project has inspired him and other students to be more helpful.

Using 3D printing technology also drives down the cost of prosthetic limbs. The hands made through e-NABLE will be given to children who need them.

Prosthetic limbs for children have made the news recently, especially those made with the use of 3D printers. One such device, created by Carlos Arturo Torres of Chicago, combined prosthetic technology with Lego pieces.

When Torres visited his home in Bogotá, Colombia, he met eight-year-old Dario. Because Dario was missing his right forearm as the result of a birth defect, Torres created one for him with Lego pieces and 3D printed parts.

Torres says that he plans to make more hands and limbs for kids between the ages of three and 12 — ages at which it is crucial that kids learn through play. The prosthetic hands may also help students study subjects like art, which make them four times as likely to be recognized for academic achievement and three times as likely to receive awards for school attendance.

The teens at Vertus Charter School are also excited about helping others, according to Jackson.

“They love assembling the hands, and they ask me every single morning if we are doing more hands,” she told 13 WHAM . “I think they like the thought they are are actually going to be helping someone with this, too.”

Vertus Charter School is still accepting applications for ninth and 10th grade students over the next couple of weeks.

[Photo courtesy of Vertus Charter School.]