TULSA - For their captsone assignment a group of Tulsa University engineering students took on a project worth way more than a good grade.
"After my accident I didn't know what I could do, what I couldn't do and you kind of just work with what's there," said Tulsa resident and member of the Center for Individuals with Physical Challenges for eight years Emeka Nnaka.
He's paralyzed from the waist down.
"For individuals like myself it is not easy to get on a mat and do a bench press," he said.
But today is different, with a little help he's able to lift weights and workout without a second thought.
"I think it's been the most work that I've poured into something, and it's definitely had the most impact of anything I've done," said senior TU engineering student Austin Jester.
He said they designed and planned for more than a thousand hours, and put it all together for the final two Tuesday.
"It's going to be able to change the way he works out in the future," he said.
The group worked out a way for people with disabilities to get the exercise many of them once knew with an adaptive bench press machine.
"We're only as limited as the machines around us and they really helped take out some of those limitations," Nnaka said.
He's not only excited for himself, but for everyone with limitations who comes to the gym to be able to get a good workout.
"I'm sore a little bit right now from just testing it out," he said. "I know first thing tomorrow when I come here I'm ready to hit it."
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