Gulfport High School
The Step Forward Project is a student-driven initiative that turns classroom technical skills into life-changing impact by having high school students 3D print prosthetic leg components and perform rigorous quality assurance for amputees in Central and South America. Through year-round collaboration with eleven partner schools across the United States, young innovators build a national network dedicated to restoring mobility. In hands-on service trips, students from Gulfport High School—along with teams from Arizona and Alabama—have traveled to Lima, Peru, and San Jose, Costa Rica, to assemble prosthetics, interview candidates, and personally fit recipients with transformative devices. This project truly embodies the essence of career technical education: empowering students to solve real-world problems with the skills, teamwork, and compassion they develop in the classroom.