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In January of this year, a devastating apartment fire in Palm Bay claimed the lives of 10-year old Emmanuel and his 5-year old sibling.

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Emmanuel was a 5^th grader at Imagine Schools of West Melbourne and just prior to summer break, Emmanuel’s STEAM teacher Brendan Williams did something very special to commemorate his memory. 

One of our Space Coast Rocket followers, Amy Bair, has a granddaughter who was in the same grade at Imagine with Emmanuel and she recently brought home a 3D printed model of a dragon that Emmanuel had created as part of a class assignment. 

Bair’s granddaughter Kasey brought home the model, saying every 5^th grade student received a copy from Mr. Williams to honor Emmanuel’s memory. 

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“The loss of Emmanuel was a sad memory for these kids and they can now remember his creative side and have a positive memory of him to look at everyday,” she said.

We spoke with Mr. Williams about the project and Emmanuel and he had fond memories of the 5^th grader. “I’d worked with him since he was in 2^nd grade and he always wanted to build this dragon,” he said. “I remember one time he made a 3D snake and it was the first time anyone in the school was able to get a flexible printing project to work. When a 7^thgrade girl asked him how he did it he just handed it right over to her to keep! He was just a wonderful little human being.”

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Mr. Williams mentioned that Emmanuel had been exploring 3D design for years and after his tragic passing, Williams reached out to Dan Sopala, a professional designer at Flexi Factory, who tweaked the design so it would be easily printed. Then on the weekends he would take the printer home and slowly was able to get 100 individual dragons completed. One for each student. 

“I just wanted to give the students a happy memory to close the year with something joyful. And comforting in the face of a loss no child should have to endure,” he added. “This project reminded me how powerful community, creativity and kindness can be in helping us process grief.”

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