JCPS students build, deliver LEGO ramp for wheelchair-bound student

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - Students at J. Graham Brown School teamed up to build a fellow Jefferson County Public School student a ramp for him to easily move around his home.

Emil James, a junior at Seneca High School, was placed in home hospital and was in need of a wheelchair ramp to get in and out of his home.

Joanie Byrum, Emil’s teacher, said he talked about wanting a ramp made out of LEGOs.

“You just get wrapped around him, he’s just a sweetheart,” Byrum said.

After discussing it with staff at the J. Graham Brown School, Byrum said two teams of students volunteered to build Emil his own LEGO wheelchair ramp.

“To know that what we worked so hard on is really going to make an impact and a difference in his life,” Victoria Grazette, a 9th grader at J. Graham Brown School said. “That he enjoys it and that its cool to him, it’s really an amazing feeling to know that you’re helping someone else.”

“Just being able to get that completed for him means the world to me,” Byrum said.

Emil said he had been waiting a while for a ramp, and on Thursday, met with the students who helped make the ramp as they delivered it to his home.

“I think it’s great,” Emil said. “It’s great kids would use this much glue and LEGOs to make this ramp.”

Emil’s ramp was customized with his favorite characters, the Super Mario Brothers and the Angry Birds.

“I just really like that it’s made of LEGOs and that it has my favorite characters on it,” Emil said.

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