RACINE, Wis. — Students at a Racine high school have a special new assignment this semester, potentially changing the life of a special needs dog.
Surrounded by seniors at Case High School in Racine, a little puppy is gearing up for a life-changing couple of weeks.
Thanks to a partnership between the biomedical and engineering classes, Forrest Stump may soon get a prosthetic foot, designed and created by the students.
Their teacher, Sara Gauthier, says it’s a real-world problem that she knows they can tackle.
“It's empowering for the kids to try way harder than if it was just something that I came up with in the classroom and said, ‘here make this, I'm the only one that's going to see it.’ Now, it’s really putting the pressure on them in understanding that this is really going to be used and what I'm doing really counts, really matters,” said Gauthier.
Seniors, like Caitlin McGuire, say they’re a little nervous to get started.
“This is like a living creature and this could really impact his life. So, it's really nerve-wracking, but it's exciting that if it goes successful, then we can help the puppy,” said McGuire.
Forrest was found living underneath a camper with his siblings and his mom in an abandoned area in southern Texas.
That’s when the team at Texas Rescue Riders jumped in to help.
Foster and Adoption Coordinator Jessica Lietzke says their rescue works with many animals that have special needs simply because it costs a lot more to treat them and they’re willing to take on the challenge.
“I hope that people give it a chance, knowing that it doesn't have to be a lifelong limitation, that they can live long, happy lives, having prosthetics made,” said Lietzke.
Those here at Case tell us the whole process should take about a month and they hope to get Forrest his prosthetic by Thanksgiving.
