Panther Prints | Issue 4 | May 2020

8 • Feature PESHPRINTS.COM
Time flies
Students devote time to personal projects in digital learning environment
by Juliette Roberts
Junior Corinne Bitar displays her amigurumis April 22.
Photo courtesy of Corinne Bitar
Hooked on crochet
Junior Corinne Bitar spent the beginning
of the extended spring break
lying in her bed and de-stressing from
the third nine weeks until the unwinding
turned into boredom. When her
mom suggested she start crocheting
to pass the time, Bitar picked up the
guide to make crocheted food items
she received for Christmas and started
working. Now she has crafted over
20 foods including a peanut butter and
jelly jar, a musubi sushi roll and an ice
cream cone.
“I was hurting my mental health because
I was just isolating myself in my
room and doing nothing,” Bitar said. “I
turned to [crocheting] just as something
I know and am familiar with, but also as
something to take me away into my own
world.”
Bitar’s current project is crafting
amigurumis, a Japanese style of knitting
small stuffed creatures. Each
one takes around an hour, depending
on the complexity of the stitch, although
online schooling has taken up
some of the time she previously used
to crochet.
“The repetitiveness of it is very calming,”
Bitar said. “Whenever you’re counting
for crocheting you’re consumed in
the world of creating that thing and that
thing is all that you are focusing on.”
One of her biggest projects to date
was making around 80 small, stuffed
owls over the summer before her sophomore
year and selling them to classmates
of her friend at the Academy High
School. Bitar expects she will probably
either give her amigurumis away to her
friends or sell them, which is one of her
favorite parts of the creative process.
“[The owls] all sold out really quickly,
which made me really happy,” Bitar said.
“I’m definitely one of the people that
shows their love through acts of service
and gift-giving.”
Full bead ahead
Isabella Escobedo started
Senior learning beadwork a year ago, but
didn’t have much time to work on it while
school and homework took up most of
her day. However,
when digital learning
began mid-March
she found that she
could spend much
more time using
beading to connect
with her indigenous
heritage.
“I think that being
in quarantine
has everybody more
stressed out than
they might usually
be because of
school and because
of life,” Escobedo
said. “For me, when I
really need an emotional
break, I turn
to beading.”
Escobedo’s family
had always assumed
their ancestors
came from Mexico,
but were unsure of
their lineage until
they signed up
for Ancestry.com
and found it to be
about half Native
American. Escobedo
uses beading — a
traditional artform in many indigenous
cultures — as a way to connect with
her roots.
Most of Escobedo’s projects are earrings,
though online schooling has given
her time to experiment with patchwork
as well. A pair of dangling earrings takes
her two to three hours while embroidery-heavy
patterns can take eight or
nine hours.
“It has given me an outlet to really
just sit down for a couple of hours and
feel accomplished,”
Escobedo said.
“That’s something
that a lot of people
feel like they’re
lacking. There’s this
idea that we have
to be productive
and I definitely feel
that too.”
Escobedo intends
on continuing
her beadwork
through college to
balance out her science
courses, and
Photos courtesy of Isabella Escobedo
Senior Isabella Escobedo presents two pairs
of handmade earrings April 24.
encourages other
students to find a
similar passion project
they can use to
relieve stress. She
believes starting is
the most difficult
part but that the end
result is worth the
challenge.
“It took me
a long time to sit
down and get
started, [but] once
you do make the
up-front payment
of time and money to get started on
such a big project, it is really rewarding,”
Escobedo said. “I would recommend
everyone find something like that
for themselves.”