BRYAN, Texas — As students at Bryan Collegiate High School get back from lunch, the students in the Quilting and Crafts Learning Community make their way to the school’s quilting room.
Each student has work to do on a project, whether it's on their own smaller quilt or contribution the club’s giant quilt.
Many of the students involved had no prior experience in sewing or quilting before joining.
“I’m not going to lie, my first quilt was not that pretty," said Avgail Sanchez, a sophomore. "But since I've practiced and practiced, it got better with time.
Not only is it a great way for teenagers to do something different than the usual clubs on campus, it provides a way for them to give back to others.
“It's really fun and it's rewarding to do stuff for other people," said Ollie Villarreal, a sophomore.
The club has been around for two years. It started out as an idea to provide quilts to families with children in the NICU.
“Hospitals are always asking for blankets, so I just had a sudden idea of, ‘What if we did quilting?'" said Lori Nichols, the Path Career College II and the Quilting and Crafts LC teacher.
As time went on, the Quilting and Crafts LC was able to grow as did the donated quilts. The club was able to gift more blankets to others, like the group Project Hope.
“Some of our students are shy," Nichols said. "Stepping out into the community is kind of nerve wracking for them, so this is a way to make something.”
Its not just big groups that get the quilts, one of the biggest highlights almost everyone in the club shares is when they gifted their custodian, Mr. Sparks, a class made quilt.
“He was so happy. He was like, ‘You’re going to make an old man cry,'" Villarreal said. "He worked so hard for this school and a lot of jobs like that can be thankless. I just thought it was so cool that we got to give him something and make him happy.”
Besides learning new skills and being able to give to those around them, the club’s other favorite part is just being with one another and stitching together new friends.
“We are all like a family here in quilting. If we see somebody that doesn’t know how to do something, we go help," Sanchez said.
The club’s standing sewing machine was able to be purchased from grants by the Bryan ISD Education Foundation.