Rashad Walker has a crafty way to cure boredom

Rashad Walker’s big idea was born last September in room 429 of the children’s ward of Ascension Sacred Heart Pensacola hospital.

Rashad, confined to a bed for three weeks after surgery to repair his knock knees, was bored.

“Insanely bored,” said his mom, Kiteka “Tiki” Walker.

There are only so many books you can read, TV shows you can watch, and video games you can play. His mom and dad, Sean, visited daily, and so did his two younger brothers, but eventually, they ran out of things to talk about.

If only there was a way to occupy your hands and your mind, to unlock the imagination. Get the creative juices flowing.

Rashad, 13, had an idea. It would require construction paper, glue, and scissors.

And imagination.

The result is DUCK, an acronym that stands for Different Unlimited Craft Kits.

“It’s kind of like an emergency kit, but it’s crafty,” he said.

Rashad is a seventh-grader at the Dixon School of Arts and Sciences in his hometown of Pensacola. He attends the K-8 private school with the help of a Florida educational choice scholarship, managed by Step Up For Students.

DUCK debuted in October at Dixon’s business fair. From there, Rashad was invited to sell his kits at the Pensacola Children’s Fair. The kits are priced at $25. Between the two fairs, Rashad made $600.

And he’s just getting started.

“I see myself as an entrepreneur, helping others, helping my generation, or the next generation,” he said. “I want to create more solutions for boredom.”

This is Rashad’s first year at Dixon, a school his mom and grandmother attended when it was still part of the Escambia County School District. Tiki was intrigued by the changes after it became a private school. She liked the arts and science components. The robotic and coding classes. The student-maintained garden.

“They seem to be well in tune to get more out of the students,” Tiki said. “Rashad wasn’t doing any of that yet, and I wanted him to.

“I felt like it was the school for him, and it’s been a wonderful experience. He just blossomed.”

Despite missing three weeks in the fall because of his hospital stay, Rashad quickly made an impact. He was elected to the student government and participates in the school’s music and dance programs.

“He looks for opportunities, which is really neat,” Dixon Principal Dr. Kevin Kovacs said. “He looks at the things we offer and just goes for it.

“It’s a pleasure to see his smile and warmth and drive to get involved. It’s hard to be a new student. It’s hard to be a middle school student. But Rashad fit in, and he fit in right away.”

Rashad had to deliver a speech to the middle school when he ran for the student government. He told of how he wanted to help them and how they could help bring out the leader in him.

He had never been a member of the student government at any of his previous schools.

“I really want to help others,” he said. “I want to try new things.”

Those desires worked in tandem to bring about DUCK.

But first, understand this: Rashad has experience as an entrepreneur.

When he was 3, he received a kit that allowed him to engrave names and words into crayons. His parents set up a table for him at a flea market. Tiki said he made $50.

Two years ago, he took some of his mom’s excess supply of Easter-themed art supplies, made baskets, and sold them from the trunk of Tiki’s car, first on the road in front of his grandmother’s house, then on a busier road.

He made $200.

Rashad entered the hospital in early October for guided growth surgery, a procedure where a plate and screws were inserted into each knee. There were complications that required a longer-than-expected stay.

“And boy, he found out what true boredom is,” Tiki said. “I even found out that there was a different level of boredom than you can even imagine.”

Tiki has a container at home of what she called “junk.” It’s filled with feathers, beads, fake snow, old socks, and shirts.

“You name it, we've got it,” Tiki said. “We cut them up and turn them into something.”

What if the junk container were a small box, and the box was filled with items that could keep someone’s hands and mind busy?

Well, you’d have DUCK.

Each kit comes with construction paper that is 4 inches by 6 inches, a small pair of scissors that fold up, a miniature clipboard to hold miniature worksheets and coloring sheets, small crayons, colored pencils that come in a case, and glue.

There are Band-Aids, hand wipes, a hairclip, and lip balm.

The kit also contains a small blanket that can be used as a drop-cloth of sorts, so the items don’t roll away if the user is in a hospital bed or on a plane.

All of the items are purchased on Amazon and modified by Rashad and his mom.

The idea behind the smaller-sized contents is that everything can fit on an overbed table used in hospitals, a snack tray on a plane, or the backseat of a car.

“Trust me,” Rashad said, “you can have a lot of fun with this.”

Rashad wants to grow the product by adding crossword puzzles and word games. He’d like to make an instructional video for kids who aren’t used to arts and crafts. He would like to someday present DUCK to the investors of the TV show Shark Tank in the hopes of receiving financial backing.

Some of Rashad’s customers at the Pensacola Children’s Fair didn’t buy the kits for themselves. Rashad said they asked if they could donate them to the patients in the children’s ward at the hospital.

He thought that was a great idea.

“Because,” Rashad said, “I want to solve that problem where other kids won't have to feel that boredom while they're in the hospital.”

Roger Mooney, manager, communications, can be reached at [email protected].