Kellam presented the prosthetic to Strom\u2019s fifth-grade class at Madison Elementary, where she, De Abreu and Gerlick answered questions from the class and helped to shape the prosthetic to fit his arm, using a hairdryer to mold the plastic.<\/p>\n \u201cEspecially being a mom myself, to bring that kind of joy to a kid is indescribable,\u201d she said. \u201cEvery now and then it\u2019s nice to see what your time produces. Happiness is one of those things you can\u2019t buy, so if you put a lot of time and effort into bringing someone else happiness, there are no words to describe that.\u201d<\/p>\n Kellam always wanted to earn her degree, though she was unsure in what field when she first attended college in Montana. When she arrived at Eastern, she was determined to enter the field of chemistry or engineering, eventually deciding on mechanical engineering.<\/p>\n \u201cSince being here, I\u2019ve learned how accepting and fantastic Eastern is for nontraditional students. I honestly can\u2019t imagine being anywhere else,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n The faculty have helped Kellam adjust to being a full-time student while also a single mother \u2013 her closest family lives in Moses Lake, about an hour and a half away from Cheney. They\u2019ve let her bring her children to class on school snow days, and let her keep her cell phone in her reach in case of emergencies.<\/p>\n \u201cThe faculty here don\u2019t just enter the classroom, teach and leave,\u201d she said. \u201cThey are interacting with students on more than just a classroom level, and it\u2019s incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n In the future, Kellam hopes to work in research and development, where she\u2019s able to build products and correct issues before they\u2019re finalized.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Shannon Kellam is a full-time engineering student at EWU, president of the Rocketry Club, and a single mother to a fifth- and third-grader. As if she weren\u2019t busy enough, Kellam also helped to build a 3-D-printed prosthetic arm\u00a0for Spokane Public Schools fifth-grader Isaiah Strom. A team from EWU\u2019s Engineering Department\u2014which included Kellam; engineering tech, Frank…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":423,"featured_media":632,"menu_order":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-114","stories","type-stories","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","stories_categories-impact-of-gifts"],"acf":{"featured_video":"","subheading":"","display_byline":false,"display_date_published":false,"Links":false,"Resources":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/give\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stories\/114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/give\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stories"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/give\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/stories"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/give\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/423"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/give\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stories\/114\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81427,"href":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/give\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stories\/114\/revisions\/81427"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/give\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/give\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/give\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/18\/2020\/02\/FistBumpingProsthetic.jpg\")