In March, high school student Jayden got his wish: to create a new eye patch during a bootcamp at the Lampe Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering at NC State University and UNC-Chapel Hill (Lampe Joint BME).

Jayden’s idea for his unique wish, which was granted in partnership with Make-A-Wish Eastern North Carolina, was sparked after he finished treatment for a brain tumor when he was 13. After multiple surgeries and radiation, he was no longer able to blink his left eye and could not find an eye patch that worked for him. He turned to local experts for help making his own.

Jayden spent two days with students and faculty members, learning about medical device product development and how to bring his idea to market.

“It’s been a dream come true, being able to go to the campuses and look at these programs and labs, seeing my idea come to fruition,” Jayden said.

He left the bootcamp with a functioning prototype and a 3D printer to refine his eye patch design at home – as well as a strong support network.

“The importance comes back to the core of what biomedical engineers do: help people,” said Devin Hubbard, a teaching associate professor. “The possibility that Jayden would leave with a new perspective, a toolkit and a clear path forward on his project and direction aligns perfectly with my personal drive to help others and my professional drive to educate.”

Jayden came to the 2025 Lampe Joint BME Student Design Symposium wearing a fully functional prototype.

“Hopefully, I want to bring [the eye patch] to everyone,” said Jayden. “I want this to be something everyone in the world can use.”

During his bootcamp, Jayden learned about what it takes to scale up a product. Students organized a roundtable with industry leaders to discuss entrepreneurship in the biomedical engineering field.

The panel was beneficial for the students, too.

“I’m interested in what technology can do for healthcare,” said senior Raghav Sriram, who wants to attend medical school next year. “It’s super meaningful for me to go and be a part of something like that for someone, for them to look up to what I have the privilege of doing every day.”