Winning in the Windy City

GLENROCK GIRLS WIN GOLD FOR BLANKET PROJECT

By BEN HOCKING
Reporter/Photographer

When Cierra Dawson and Veronica DeSanty fi rst decided to go the extra mile to craft blankets for The Children’s Hospital in Denver, they had no idea it would lead to a great experience in Chicago and a gold medal in their fi nal Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) event as graduated seniors.

DeSanty and Dawson said that they crafted 56 different blankets for The Children’s Hospital, ranging in size from those meant for infants to those meant for large-sized teenagers. The girls said they spent an average of three hours a week for three months to complete the project.

“They were really excited to receive the blankets at the hospital. We didn’t actually get to give them to the kids, but the volunteer department that we did give them too were really excited,” Dawson said. “They told us that within a week all of our blankets would be gone. They were really impressed with the idea of it.”

The patients and volunteers at The Children’s Hospital weren’t the only ones impressed.

The pair brought the successful project to Chicago July 2-8 to compete nationally in the Star category and in a category called “National Programs in Action.” In order to standout from their competitors, the pair shunned the traditional poster board approach in favor of placing the outline of their blanket project on one of their own tie blankets to present to the three judges.

“When we put our blanket up and saw that the judges were really excited we didn’t feel nervous anymore,” Dawson said. “Advisors were tracking us down to see our project and that was really neat. They started calling us ‘The Blanket Girls.’”

The girls said that although they are ecstatic about winning a national competition with FCCLA, the reaction between them was bittersweet, knowing that this would be the last time they worked together on a project for FCCLA. DeSanty and Dawson also worked together to construct a bike safety program called Rolling for Safety, designed to teach kids the proper rules of the road.

“We are really good friends already, so working together is fun and we laugh a lot together,” DeSanty said. “It’s great because we can talk to each other and if we get frustrated with one another, we can talk about it and work out the problem.”

Both girls said that they really enjoyed the atmosphere in Chicago and during the FCCLA competition. They were able to go to the top of the Willis (Sears) Tower and take a nighttime boat ride from down the Chicago River into Lake Michigan to see the city lights.

“Chicago was fun because it was a new city and I had never been there before,” Dawson said. “It was a great atmosphere in the city and at the event and it was great to meet people from every state in the United States.”

This is part of the July 29, 2010 online edition of The Glenrock Independent.

Have an opinion on this matter? We'd like to hear from you. Click here.