Honor Society students from Stella Schola Middle School in Redmond recently heard about the wish of a 14-year-old boy from Sea-Tac. Siiuta Fola, whose nickname is Chuka, has been fighting leukemia for the past year and often does not feel well enough to do normal teenage things.

Since its inception in 1986, the local chapter of the Make-A-Wish Foundation has granted the wishes of more than 3,750 children with life-threatening medical conditions.

Chuka’s wish was to feel like a celebrity for a day. The Honor Society kids from Stella Schola voted to participate as “paparazzi” while he spent Saturday, Jan. 13 sightseeing around Seattle.

Headmistress and Honor Society advisor Brigitte Tennis approved, saying, “It’s important for our youth to emphathize with others and this is a great way to make a memory for a young man who has had many challenges in his life.”

Chuka traveled to various locations in a black limousine and 13 Stella Schola Honor Society students followed him around, snapping photos, asking for autographs and holding up hand-made messages of encouragement, such as “You rock,” “We love you, Chuka,” “You are a star,” and “Chuka is cool!.”

At Macy’s in downtown Seattle, Chuka, wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses, got the red carpet treatment as fans clamored for his attention.

“I feel really good to be helping a kid my age feel better,” said Stella Schola seventh grader Pavel Titov.

Later in the evening, the middle school “paparazzi” showed up again, as Chuka went to the Space Needle.

At the end of the day, Chuka stepped out of his celebrity role to thank his supporters.

Seventh grader Julie Tramp commented, “Helping Chuka by making his wish come true was really fun and I liked it,” as she donated her flash camera with the day’s photos to Chuka.

Eighth-grader Alexa Dickinson noted, “I hope he can think about his day and how much people support him when he is sick the next time.” Eighth grader Cody Duoos agreed, “Chuka is really cool and I am glad I was able to be part of this.”

To learn more about the Make-A-Wish Foundation, visit www.wish.org.