The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
Robin Colvin encourages dreamers at MECS
Robin Colvin: Sixth-grader leads school in learning about, creating dreamcatchers
MORRISVILLE>> There are likely to be a few less nightmares for students of the Edward R. Andrews Elementary School, thanks to the efforts of sixth grader Robin Colvin.
Colvin, 12, last month led a school-wide project in making dreamcatchers, hang-able devices used by Native Americans to ward off bad dreams. She said she had seen them for the first time at a Native American Fair last fall in Oneida, where she found a display of handmade dreamcatchers in one of the booths.
Intrigued, Colvin learned about their use in preventing bad dreams and encouraging only good dreams.
“Dreamcatchers are used to trap bad dreams and make them vanish by the first light of the new day,” she explained.
Colvin decided she wanted to share that experience with her schoolmates, so she researched more the history and creation of dream catchers. Before she could bring the project to her fellow elementary school students, however, she had tomake a presentation of her plans to Edward R. Andrews Principal Deb Dushko, and then the 15-member School Improvement Team on Jan. 14.
Those meetings before the teachers and administrators went well, Colvin remembered.
“It was pretty easy because I’ve gone to school here all of my life,” she said.
“She came in and did a great job,” complimented Dushko.
The dream catcher-crafting project was held on Jan. 26 in conjunction with the celebration of the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. His “I have a dream” speech was the theme of Colvin’s encouragement to the youths of the school to not only make their own dream catchers, but also to follow their own dreams.
Colvin made a video with step-by-step instructions for making a dream catcher that she uploaded to YouTube. Materials needed for a dream catcher are as simple as a paper plate, colored string, feathers, and beads.
Tools used are regular household scissors and maybe some tape.
Her video shows Colvin constructing a dream catcher from a paper plate with the center part removed to leave about a twoinch wide circular rim. She cuts the string to make a web-like design crisscrossing the opening and slides decorative beads onto the string at various places. The final touch is attaching a feather froma section of string, and, if the crafter wants to hang the dream catcher, the addition of another piece of string at the top to suspend it.
Students in the sixth grade classes teamed up with first-graders, while fifth-graders teamed with kindergartners, Dushko said. Colvin herself oversaw the entire project. Some430 kids and 30 adults ended up making dream catchers that day.
“It was a good feeling,” Colvin said of watching her fellow students working on a project she devised.
This isn’t Colvin’s first school-wide project — last year, she spearheaded a special recycling program to help separate garbage from recyclable items at the school. During April 2014, to commemorate Earth Day, she createda chart for each classroom to check off whether they were placing paper with their garbage and garbage with their paper.
Classes that attained 100 percent on those tally sheets were awarded certificates for their work, and those coming close to perfect were also given certificates to encourage them to continue their efforts, Dushko said.
That project not only helped reduce the incidences of refuse becoming mixed with recyclables, but made the work of the custodial staff easier at the same time. It was that crew who would end up doing the final separations, Dushko explained, and they reported amuch easier job thanks to Colvin.
“The custodians noticed a significant decrease in the amount of garbage in the recycling, and they really appreciated it,” Dushko said.
Colvin will graduate from Edward R. Andrews Elementary School in June and move on to the Morrisville-Eaton Middle School. She wasn’t sure what project she would look into sharing with classmates next year, but promised to continue her outreach as a middle school student.
She said her own long range dreams include going to Morrisville State College for their equine science curriculum. Colvin said she wants to be a horse veterinarian once she graduates college.
Dushko said Colvin has definitely left her mark on the elementary school by setting a great example and encouraging many of her younger peers.
“Robin’s really been an inspiration to the other kids, showing them how one person can really make a difference,” Dushko said. “Some of the younger kids have really been watching her, and she has empowered them as well. I think she’s just a neat kid.”
To see Colvin’s video on how to make a dream catcher, visit: http://youtu.be/akABXOUk0-E To read more Your Neighbor stories, visit: www.OneidaDispatch.com/topic/yn