CHS Students Create Community Through Quilting

A beautiful quilt currently gracing the Young Adult section of the Maplewood Memorial Library, and soon headed for the South Orange library, shows what can happen when people work together to create something special.

Handmade by students in the Fiber Arts classes and the Community Service Club, under the direction of Fiber Arts teacher Beth Schwartz, the quilt represents the students’ individual interpretations of the meaning of community.

At the beginning of the school year, participants collected used clothing from members of the CHS community.  A generous grant from the enabled the purchase of sewing machines and quilting materials.  Students designed, embroidered and appliquéd the quilt blocks. 

“The students used material from different uniforms, clubs and more to make this gorgeous quilt,” said young adult librarian Irene Langlois. “There is a key to credit the student responsible for each square.”

One student depicted his house, to show that a community is made up of individual homes.  Another shows two figures with their arms around each other, representing the relationships he has forged in
his years at CHS. 

Other teens used religious or cultural symbols; for instance, one girl used a Chinese character to signify her awareness of where she fits in society. 

One very detailed square shows hands of all colors grasped around the earth.  “The student worked forever on that one,” Schwartz said.  “He wanted to show that we all have to understand each other and where people are coming from.”

Schwartz, who recently celebrated 25 years as a teacher in the district, said the school community came together to complete the quilt.  After she posted a message on Facebook asking for help, dozens of students, alumni, retirees, and teachers pitched in and finished it in a week.

“The students learned that it is the individual in the community that creates the community,” she said. 

Next, the quilt will travel to and South Orange Library.  Schwartz is already planning next year’s project, which she hopes can involve the larger Maplewood and South Orange community.