15 UNDER 15: Girl goes wild for necklaces

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) – When you were a child or a teen, what were you doing?

There are 15 young people in the Cape Fear who are doing a lot, going above and beyond, and someone noticed.

WWAY’S partners at the Star News are featuring the students Sunday. One of them has gone wild with necklaces to save wildlife.

They’re wildly colorful, uniquely shaped, and carefully hand-made. Necklaces that are all done by an eight year old Wilmington girl. From stingrays to killer whales, you’ll find any animal featured on the necklaces because Skylar Santucci loves all animals.

“I think because they’re so different from humans,” Skylar said.

The necklaces, however, aren’t only for ornamentation, they’re also for conservation.

“I want to save all the endangered animals,” Skylar said.

Skylar is doing that by selling them in shops across the Cape Fear, then, she donates all the proceeds to the World Wildlife Fund. She said she’s raised more than $3,000 in about a year and a half.

That is why Skylar is one of the 15 under 15 featured in the Star News. Hannah DelaCourt, one of the reporters who worked on the series, said they narrowed down the 40 nominations sent to the newspaper by looking for students like Skylar.

“We really wanted to showcase a wide range of the kids that we have in the southeastern region, and the wonderful things that they’re doing. So, we looked for differences in things that really stood out,” DelaCourt said.

DelaCourt said 2015’s honorees really stand out.

“They’re, some are still in middle school or elementary school, and they’ve already figured out a path that they really want to take,” DelaCourt said.

“It turned out great. My parents didn’t think I would keep making them, but I did,” Skylar said.

Skylar added that she’ll continue to go wild on the necklaces until, “there is no endangered animal on the planet, and that there never will be again.”

You can get a preview of the 15 selected students online already. The full, printed series comes out Sunday in a pull-out section of the Star News.

If you’d like to buy one of Skylar’s necklaces, she said you can find them at Wilmington Water Tours, Carolina Beach Animal Hospital, and Island Wellness Market.