Career Academy students help child recovering from surgery

Career Academy Students in the Sioux City School District took it upon themselves to help a family in need.

Justin Hines is 4 years old and has had two surgeries for hip dysplasia. Because of the surgeries, Justin has been placed in a spica cast.

It requires his legs to be extended to the side, and it makes wearing normal pants nearly impossible.

So, when the students in the fashion design Career Academy class in Sioux City heard about Justin, they jumped into action.

“I put them into four groups and they went through the whole design process from brainstorming, researching, and making a prototype, and then they made the final product,” said the classes teacher.

What was the final product? A pair of pants Justin could wear comfortably after his surgery.

Because Justin has to keep his legs spread, and there’s a bar between his legs, the family could have ordered specialty pants, but they’re extremely hard to find.

“Now that we actually have these pants we can actually take him out and go actually do some stuff with him and at least try and make, make the cast as normal as possible for him,” said Justin’s father,

and while this act of kindness from the students means a lot to Justin’s parents, the group of career academy students are glad they had a chance to get some real world experience as well.

“I think it’s great that we really had a client that we could get the bio on and find out his likes and dislikes, so it really was like we were on Project Runway Jr.”

And the reward is just as great for the students, as it is for the parents.

“He’s just a cute little kid and I’m just super glad we had this opportunity to do it,” said Career Academy student.

“It really warms my heart and I know it warms his mom’s heart that they took the time and the effort to do all of this just for us.”

View the full story from KMEG
by Derek Krayenhagen

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