FLOWERY BRANCH — Three Flowery Branch High School students, with the help of a math teacher, have designed a wheelchair that helps physically disabled people reach high places.

Whether they can market the chair to a wider audience remains to be seen, but for the short term, the students can work to impress judges this week in the 2007-08 JETS National Engineering Challenge in Washington, D.C.

Matt Blaisdell, James deGrood and Joshua Gober, as well as their coach, Ben Wagner, have been invited to give a 15-minute oral report on the creation as one of six finalists in the Junior Engineering Technical Society competition.

The event begins Thursday and ends Saturday.

"We’ve been working on (the device) for weeks," said deGrood in an interview last week at the school. "... We’ve been working on redesigning the chair, making modifications as we need them. We’re definitely ready for (the challenge)."

The group’s transportation costs, registration fees and hotel accommodations are covered by the event.

The technical society started the competition to foster interest in engineering among high school students.

Some 260 teams began the competition nationwide, with that number narrowed to 100 and then six.

Teams in this year’s contest were challenged to design a device that people with disabilities can use to succeed in the workplace and their lives.

DeGrood said he and the students consulted with two students at school who use a wheelchair.

"They said they have problems reaching things in higher places," he said. "After a few ideas, we thought of the wheelchair with the adjustable lift on it.

One wheelchair-bound person, a local store employee, said "he has a lot of unused cabinet space at his home," deGrood said. "He can only reach the two bottom shelves."

The students designed the "High Roller," which consists of one fixed arm rest and one removable arm rest so that people can get in and out of the chair — a recommendation of one of the students.

The chair also features an 11-inch air-shock cylinder and fixed wheelie bars built from a standard wheelchair donated by Citizens Pharmacy in Flowery Branch.

The store employee tried out the chair and "gave us some good feedback," deGrood said. "There were a few things that could have been better, but for the most part it worked."

The winning team at the competition receives $3,000 for their school, plus a trip to the 2008 National Industries for the Severely Handicapped National Training and Achievement Conference, set for April 15-17 in Los Angeles.

Two additional winning teams will be awarded $1,500 for their school.

Marketing potential for the chair is not known. Wagner said the competition is tailored more toward building interest in engineering among young people rather than manufacturing a new product.

"Some of the new design competitions are sponsored by industry. This is not," he said. "... You’re not guaranteed to have a group of investors sitting there waiting to snap up the best ideas."

However, Wagner added, "we do need to think more about (marketing the chair)."

"I’ve looked at it, actually," deGrood said.