When you move to a new school, it’s always difficult. Meeting new people, first impressions and learning the ropes can be hard at first. Imagine doing all of that with a disability, and it could be said that there would be even more stress.

But for one 15-year-old from Tennessee, he instead found a group of people determined to change his life. Sergio Peralta started his new year at Hendersonville High School. He told CBS News that he struggled sharing his disability with the other students.

In the first days of school, I honestly felt like hiding my hand,” he said. “Like nobody would ever find out.”

Sergio Peralta, second from the left, poses with his classmates. The robotics class worked together to create a working prosthetic hand for Peralta. Photo by Hendersonville High School

However, a group of teens in the school engineering program, along with their teacher, Jeff Wilkins, did learn about his secret. And instead of letting him get away with hiding it, they told him they wanted to help.

“They ended up offering me, like, ‘We could build your prosthetic hand’, and I never expected it,” Peralta said. “Like, never in a million years.” The students in the tech course had access to a 3D printer as well as online examples to begin their project. 

With access to online models and a 3D printer, the group went to work creating a hand that would be something that Peralta could use to do more in his life. Leslie Jaramillo, one of the students, told WVTF that this was a project that followed all the guidelines they were being taught as creators.

“You’re supposed to be engineering, coming up with new ideas, solving issues,” Jaramillo said. “Just making things better than how they used to be.”

Photo by WTVF

Bob Cotter, the high school’s principal, told BBC that Peralta’s new prosthesis is “a testament to the students who care about each other and the program that Jeff Wilkins has built.” Peralta had spent his first 15 years learning to do things with his left hand, like writing. But the prosthetic his classmates made, let him do more than he ever imagined – including learning to catch a baseball.

After a month of work, they put his hand to test with a game of catch, a hobby that was once out of reach. “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.”

Peralta — who grew up learning to do everything with his left hand, including writing — was even able to catch a baseball with the prosthetic hand created by Hendersonville High’s students. “[After] living without a hand for 15 years and they actually offered me two is actually pretty cool,” Sergio told WTVF. “Like changed my life” Watch below to see the heartwarming story.

Sources: BBC | People | CBS News | WTVF