‘Opportunity of a lifetime’
The booming textile and fabrics industry in India is an inviting place for anyone in the fashion and apparel business.
But seeing the country and exploring the textile industry are expensive and challenging, requiring knowing the right people.
Enter Lake City home economics teacher Nichole Thiel, a recipient of a Fulbright-Hays fellowship.
Thiel is one of six public school teachers from around the country selected to travel to India for a month as part of a project with Colorado State University to develop course curriculum that includes a focus on India’s textiles industry.
“Opportunity of a lifetime, hands down,” Thiel said as she sat in her classroom at Lake City last week.
The fellowship covers all expenses once she gets to India, but Thiel has to pay for her airfare, immunizations, work visa and for a substitute to teach her teen living, child development and nutrition classes at Lake City for a month. A $500 grant from the Idaho Professional-Technical Education Foundation will help, but all in all, Thiel will shell out about $4,500 of her own money for the trip.
It’s worth it, of course.
“This has never been done before,” she said.
CSU professors applied for the fellowship two years ago and chose the other professors and teachers who will participate.
Eighteen people – 12 professors and six K-12 schoolteachers – will go on the trip as part of the Fabrics of Indian Life project. The group will visit 21 cities, work in textile factories and visit with villagers to learn about the different fabrics and dying techniques, among other things.
“These are just little homemakers who hope to sell their items to a vendor,” Thiel said.
They’ll then work together to create curriculum that incorporates what they learned in India and exposes students to India’s booming fabric business.
“They are more known for their wools and threads and yarns than pretty much any other country,” Thiel said.
She hopes to incorporate lessons about India and its textiles industry into her courses as early as the spring.
Thiel and her colleagues got visas to allow them to work alongside factory workers. Trip organizers have contacts in India that allowed them access to the factories.
“They normally don’t let Americans in their factories because they don’t want people to see how poor the (work conditions) are,” Thiel said.
A native of Ritzville, Wash., Thiel is in her second year at Lake City. She previously taught at Timberlake High School in Spirit Lake for three years. Before becoming a teacher, Thiel worked in retail apparel design and merchandising for 13 years.
She starts her 20-hour flight on Christmas Day.
Look for a report on how the trip went in this column sometime in February.
Counting the coins
Students at Dalton Elementary School raised more than $700 for their library by collecting quarters for the school’s Quarter Day last month. Held on the last day of the quarter, Quarter Day is a tradition at the school, along with Penny Day (held on the 100th day of school), Dime Day (held on Oct. 10) and Nickel Day (held on May 5). All are fundraisers for the library.
Students are given a plastic zip-top bag to take home and fill with as much change as possible. They’re encouraged to bring in coins to match the day’s theme, but all forms of currency are accepted, hence Quarter Day’s total of $707.35.
“If you’re wondering how the baggies of coins are put to use, all you have to do is stop by the library to see the happy faces on kids and staff that have been waiting for the next book in a series, a new book on their favorite subject or by their favorite author, and additional titles on library shelves to supplement subjects taught in the classroom,” Dalton librarian Barb McFarland wrote in the school’s newsletter.
The librarians can spend the money how they see fit. School office manager Pam Nordby said most of it goes to buy new books.
“We have a pretty darn good library,” Nordby said. “Our parents have taken on the library and done a fantastic job.”
Say hello to West Ridge
The new elementary school being built in Post Falls is no longer known as just “the new school.” As of last week, its official name is West Ridge Elementary School.
The Post Falls School Board unanimously approved the name at a recent meeting. The name was selected from among 35 names submitted by the public, per the invitation of the school district. Post Falls resident Lori Mader submitted the name of West Ridge.
A committee of patrons, parents and staff selected four names to be presented to the board of trustees. West Ridge was the top choice because it refers to the prominent geographical ridge that can be seen from the school site. The ridge was also a popular community gathering place, and committee members reflected on the many decades of sledding parties and bonfires that took place there, according to a news release from the school district.
Funded by the bond levy voters approved in May, the new elementary school will be east of McGuire Road, south of Poleline Avenue, west of Chase Road and north of Seltice Way in the Montrose housing development. It’s expected to open in fall 2008.