Students Welcome Their New Classmate With a Halloween Costume Built Around Her Wheelchair

Students welcome their new classmate with a Halloween costume built around her wheelchair. With so much sadness in the news, this story will make you smile from ear to ear and want to tell a friend. I love how it begins with a little girl’s imagination and grows because someone takes her dream to heart.

Students Help New Classmate Create Her Dream Halloween Costume

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Nine-year-old Kaelyn Goodman wanted to be a “princess angel” for Halloween. At Babcock Neighborhood School in Babcock Ranch, Florida, 25 eighth-grade STEM students decided to help.

Kaelyn lives with congenital myasthenic syndrome, a rare genetic condition affecting communication between nerves and muscles. Her wheelchair gives her independence when her muscles become tired. The students would build her costume around it, with Kaelyn helping guide the design.

Kaelyn Helps Design a Costume Built Around Her Wheelchair

Her parents, Jabori and Kathryn, tell us what made their care so meaningful, and it will touch your heart because it really is the little things that matter. 

“What made this project so special was that the students didn’t just decide what they thought Kaelyn would like,” they said. “They invited her into their classroom, listened to her ideas, asked about her favorite colors and genuinely wanted to know what she envisioned.”

‘Kaelyn’s Angels’ Turn Her Wheelchair Into a Princess Throne

Kaelyn sometimes gave up recess to work alongside the older students. Calling themselves “Kaelyn’s Angels,” they revised designs and learned to sew. By the school’s October 10 Trunk-or-Treat celebration, her wheelchair had become an angel throne.

“They made my wheelchair into a beautiful angel throne, and I got to be a princess angel just like I wanted,” Kaelyn said.

Then came the part that makes my heart squeeze when she said, “My favorite part was seeing how they took my ideas and made them real — and the wings! I felt like a real princess.”

What gets me is that Kaelyn gave up recess to sit with the big kids and help. She had her own ideas, and they wanted to hear them. When she finally saw those wings, she could see something she had imagined, made real by friends who cared.

Their Kindness Makes Kaelyn Feel Seen and Included

I think we sometimes make loving our neighbor harder than it needs to be. Here was a little girl who wanted to be a princess angel, and some students were willing to learn how to sew. God can do something beautiful with that kind of willingness. Kaelyn understood the kindness beneath every stitch.

“Sometimes people need help doing things, and it’s nice when someone cares enough to help. The eighth graders made me really happy,” she said.

Her wings were part of a costume. The care that helped her wear them was wonderfully real.

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“Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.” Romans 15:7

WATCH: Students Welcome Their New Classmate With a Halloween Costume Built Around Her Wheelchair 

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h/t: People

Featured Image Credit: YouTube/CBS Evening News

Heather Riggleman is a believer, wife, mom, author, social media consultant, and full-time writer. She lives in Minden, Nebraska with her kids, high school sweetheart, and three cats who are her entourage around the homestead. She is a former award-winning journalist with over 2,000 articles published. She is full of grace and grit, raw honesty, and truly believes tacos can solve just about any situation. You can find her on GodUpdates, iBelieve, Crosswalk, Hello Darling, Focus On The Family, and in Brio Magazine. Connect with her at www.HeatherRiggleman.com or on Facebook.