High School Students Bring Imaginations to Life for First Graders

Students in the fashion design classes at Clear Springs High School teamed up with first graders at Campbell Elementary and Bauerschlag Elementary to bring imaginations to life through a special collaboration called Monster Project.

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The elementary students were first asked to design and illustrate a monster on paper. This drawing was sent to the high school students who then built upon the creation to ultimately construct and sew the monster using the skills they were learning in the class.

“What I love about it is that it is really multidimensional,” said Megan Edlefsen, family and consumer sciences teacher at Clear Springs. “It gives my students a chance to practice their hand-sewing skills and it gives the first graders the opportunity to flex their art skills and do some designing with their monsters.”

For the first time since this project was established four years ago, the high school students had the opportunity to surprise their younger students in person with their finished monster.

“My monster has super strength, super speed and also chaos control. He has all of the powers that I have,” said Bauerschlag student Connor Linscomb while proudly holding up his completed monster. “Thank you for making me this gift.”

Edlefsen also added that this project was much more than just a sewing and art assignment for both groups of students.

“Our students were so disconnected from everything, so I really wanted to do everything I could to help them connect with other people,” said Edlefsen. “They are improving their sewing skills, but they are also improving their social-emotional skills.”