Sergio Peralta, a 15-year-old student of Hendersonville High School near Nashville, Tennessee, has benefited from the kindness of his classmates in a way he never expected.
When Peralta arrived at the school, he was nervous about his right hand, which had never fully formed. As his classmates got to know him, they offered to help in a unique way: they proposed building him a prosthetic hand.
“They ended up offering me, like, ‘We could build your prosthetic hand,’ and I never expected it,” Peralta told CBS News, “Like, never in a million years.”
The students used online models of prostheses, a 3D printer, and four weeks of work to turn their concept into a reality. Leslie Jaramillo, one of the students who worked on the project, said it was an example of the engineering and problem-solving they had been taught.
As a result of the student’s efforts, Peralta was able to catch a baseball with his right hand for the first time. He was overwhelmed with joy and gratitude for his classmates’ kindness.
“When I caught it for the first time, everyone started freaking out,” Peralta said with a smile. “It was the first time I caught a ball with my right hand in [my] 15 years.”
“They changed my life,” Peralta said while telling his inspiring story to CBS.
The principal of the school, Bob Cotter, praised the students for their willingness to help and said that the act of kindness is “a testament to the students who care about each other and the program that Jeff Wilkins has built.”
The story of Sergio Peralta and his classmates’ kindness has been shared widely and has been an inspiration to many. It serves as a reminder of the power of empathy and the importance of supporting one another.
The students of Hendersonville High School have demonstrated that even with minimal resources, it is possible to make a huge difference in someone’s life. Their selflessness and ingenuity have demonstrated that even a small act of kindness can have a lasting impact.
