When junior Rita Baca first learned about Walkin’ & Rollin’s mission as a freshman in 2023, it opened her eyes. Making costumes for children who are bound to wheelchairs called to her… an activity that combined her love of creativity, engineering and compassion checked all her boxes for involvement in an extracurricular activity. This year marks her third year participating.
The annual Walkin’ and Rollin’ costume reveal party was held on Oct. 18. Baca and a team of Stags helped 5-year-old participant, Alicia, develop, design, build and show off her Halloween costume, a “Doc McStuffin’s” ambulance.
According to walkinrollin.org, Walkin’ & Rollin’ Costumes hosts workshops in the fall to invite volunteers to work on multiple wheelchair costumes for kids. In conjunction with the Pedrotti Project Studio opening, students including Baca have participated each year.
This year, students in the program chose Alicia, a young girl who relies wheelchair for her mobility. Since the project kicked off in September, students have volunteered time in the project studio before and after school to build a Doc McStuffins-themed costume. Doc McStuffins is Alicia’s favorite cartoon.
“(When she first saw the costume) she just kept wanting to touch everything,” Baca said. “I was very happy to see her mom, I felt like she was very moved by what we’re doing, especially because this is for her daughter.”
“I could tell that she w
as definitely really excited,” sophomore Connor Droege said. “When we first met her, she brought in this Doc McStuffin’s toy of the actual ambulance that Doc McStuffins has.”
Students had a (month and half) to complete the project. Students gather before and after school, and during seminars.
“I’ve come to really love the project, and it’s been very enjoyable to work on,” sophomore Gregory Arico said.
Hardships faced while building Alicia’s costume included limited team members, and having to rely on only photos of Alicia’s wheelchair, which made measurement a challenge.
“Not everything fit properly, then we had to remeasure everything, reorder and order things we needed,” Baca said.
