A year following September 11, 2001, a group of Shipley Middle School students signed up to join a knitting activity with the goal of creating an American Flag. Many of these students had never knitted before so this was truly a labor of love. The service learning activity met once each month and many knitters volunteered to knit during many of their free periods.

Thirteen knitters were assigned the stripes, and the remaining two worked on the field of blue for the stars. Some knitters had no previous experience, so there was a lot of trial and error. Patiently their faculty advisor, Cookie Angstadt, would re-teach the basics to those who needed it, and stitch by stitch they inched along. The knitters are, Nuri Topping-Waller, Eva Jean Tanenbaum, Erin Klingsberg, Lauren Saylor, Tori Schelling, Kristin Thorkelson, Emily White, Liz Pritchard, Laura Underwood, Sophie Brownstein, Molly Cousins, Elise Mercier, and Carolyn Brown.

A year-and-a-half later the flag is complete, with crocheted stars loving donated by Molly Cousins’ Great Grandmother, Elizabeth Clouser, of Elwood, Indiana. All the pieces were recently completed and Angstadt carefully cut out felt letters and sewed them to a blue strip that was attached to the blue field, and sewed on the stars and stripes. The flag is now complete, and the look of pride was evident on the faces of all who participated. One knitter commented that she was proud to have been a part of the project.

On Saturday, April 12, the flag and a book about the search and rescue dogs from 911 will be auctioned off to the highest bidder in one of the school’s major fundraisers. Twenty-five percent of the money raised will be donated to New York’s search and rescue dog organization (SAR). The organization is responsible for training the dogs used following the World Trade Center bombing. The highest bidder will have a very special keepsake.

April 2003