Hendersonville High School students recently and quite literally offered a hand to a new student when a group of three set out to make a robotic hand for one!
The idea of starting a new school can be scary, and that feeling was amplified for 15-year-old Sergio Peralta when he began a new year at the high school outside of Nashville, Tennessee.
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Sergio was born with a birth defect that kept his right hand from fully forming. So, Sergio hoped he'd be able to hide his hand from classmates. He told CBS News, "In the first days of school, I honestly felt like hiding my hand. Like nobody would ever find out.”
However, students at Hendersonville High did notice Sergio's hand. But instead of responding negatively to his disability, three students did something to make Sergio's life better! Jeff Wilkins, the school's engineering teacher, approached Sergio with a proposal. They wanted to make a robotic hand for him!
Class Sets Out To Make Robotic Hand
Jeff told Sergio that students in his Design and Development class might be able to make him a prosthetic hand!
With reference to online models of prostheses and access to a 3D printer, the students devised a plan and completed Sergio's new hand within four weeks!
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There are so many wonderful things about this project. From learning to really put their knowledge to work to experience the joy of changing a life, these three, along with Sergio, were blessed by carrying out the assignment.
Student Leslie Jaramillo told The Guardian that they were able to do what they've been taught in class, saying, "You’re supposed to be engineering, coming up with new ideas, solving issues.”
And their finished product certainly accomplished that mission!
Robotic Hand Inspires So Many
Principal Bob Cotter told the BBC that Mr. Wilkins’ class is geared toward teaching students to turn concepts "into reality," adding that their work serves as "a testament to the students we have here who care about each other and the program that Jeff Wilkins has built.”
Sergio has learned to do almost everything, including writing, with his left hand. Now, he is able to catch a baseball with his new right one!
"When I caught it for the first time, everyone started freaking out,” he told People. “It was the first time I caught a ball with my right hand in 15 years.”
Hendersonville High School set out to make a robotic hand for Sergio. But they gave him much more than that! The students there showed him the friendship and kindness that we wish all students-all people-demonstrated to others!
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"Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;" Colossians 3:12
WATCH: Students Make Robotic Hand For Classmate
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h/t: People
Featured Image Credit: Youtube/THV11