Berthoud Weekly Surveyor | Covering all the angles in the Garden Spot

Sixth graders will teach crafts on Saturday

December 15, 2016 | Local News

By Surveyor Staff

This Saturday, sixth graders from Turner Middle School are hosting a Make It – Take It Crafts Event from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in conjunction with the Snow Fest. The event will be held at New Freedom Outreach Center, 250 Mountain Ave., the former site of Grace Place Church. The students have created holiday craft projects like handprint reindeer, tree ornaments, and beaded candy canes, for participants to make. The crafts will cost $.50 to $1. Proceeds from the event will be donated to the Christmas in Berthoud fund. It is a great opportunity for parents, grandparents or friends to make some holiday crafts without having the mess to clean up. The project is part of a class at TMS.

The idea of having middle school students participate in community service projects came as an inspiration from former TMS teacher Janelle Joers. Five years ago, Joers took a two-year sabbatical to teach school in the Caribbean island country of Curacao. When she returned, she was asked about the differences between schools in Curacao and the U.S.A. Joers said the students in Curacao took more of a personal interest in their communities, because they participated in service projects. With this inspiration, Kristi Leonard, coordinator for the gifted and talented (GT) students at TMS, envisioned teaching effective skills such as leadership, organization, and advocating for self and others through service learning. She began looking for opportunities for students to perform community service as part of the GT program.

Over the past two years, TMS students have assessed their strengths and interests and found projects that matched. Projects included making blankets for the Linus Project, visiting residents of Berthoud Living Center, serving the senior monthly lunch, taking care of animals, and mentoring preschoolers, to name a few.

TMS has further expanded the community service project this year. Each eighth grader is responsible for creating a service learning project called Dragon Community Initiative (DCI). Students began the process by considering a global or local problem and designed projects to address the problem. Alana Hymel is organizing a blood drive in Berthoud on the day after Christmas for the Children’s Hospital for her DCI project.

The goal for the sixth graders at the Make It – Take It Craft Event is to beat last year’s $250 donation to Christmas in Berthoud. Please support this event on Saturday from 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. at New Freedom Outreach Center.

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