By Micah Davis
Students and faculty at Carl Sandburg Elementary participated in an Olympic opportunity Wednesday, Jan. 22, presenting 28 Olympic athletes with quilts handmade by the children.
Nadine Stupelli, a sixth-grade teacher at Sandburg Elementary and BYU graduate, said the children have been working and preparing for the last six weeks. Each child personally made a quilt for a particular athlete.
Diana Lopez, 10, a sixth grader at Sandburg Elementary, said with her sister''s help, it took about a month to make the quilt. The most exciting part of the activity will be giving the quilt to the athlete she prepared it for, Lopez said.
'The children have gained an awareness of the Olympics, but the biggest benefit for the children is probably the art aspect, with the symmetry and learning about the colors and how to put things together,' Stupelli said.
She said the students studied Ancient Greece and the original Olympics as part of their curriculum.
'The most exciting thing for me has been to watch the kids grow - the pride, confidence, the ''I can do this,''' Stupelli said. 'And they learn that when they make a quilt and make a mistake, they can fix it. Hopefully that carries over into other things.'
The school invited those athletes preparing for events occurring at the Olympic Oval and E-Center, near the elementary school, to participate.
Through the adopt-a-school partnership with Home Depot, students and faculty receive benefits such as tutoring for students, mentors, penpals and materials.
In return, the school provides student artwork, choral groups and invitations to school activities for the athletes.
Through the U.S. Olympic Committee''s Olympic Job Opportunities Program, athletes are able to work part-time while receiving full-time benefits, allowing them to spend time preparing for the Games.
Those athletes attending the assembly have taken advantage of the program in conjunction with the adopt-a-school program at the West Valley City Home Depot.
Richard Forsyth, principal of Sandburg Elementary, said he didn''t want to take credit for the experience, saying Stupelli was the one behind the project.
'Nadine''s really been the spearhead of this whole experience,' Forsyth said.
Forsyth said the school programs and assemblies this year have had a theme similar to the Games.
'Our community caring assemblies have been ''go for the gold,'' so the challenges have been gold related,' Forsyth said. 'We have a reading program where they earn gold, silver, or bronze medals for how many pages the children read per month,' Forsyth said.