Plastic Canvas Honor | Austin Knights Director Teaches New Honor at Camporee
Ann Marie Dyer
While directing a Vacation Bible School program many years ago, two of my senior church members taught the kids to make baskets from plastic canvas. I was fascinated by the flexibility and durability of the material. It soon became my new hobby.
Eventually, one of my Pathfinders suggested I submit this hobby to the North American Division for approval as an Adventist Youth Arts and Craft Honor. The Plastic Canvas honor (and Plastic Canvas, advanced) was finally approved in 2006.
This past summer, I taught the honor at the 2019 International Pathfinder Camporee in Oshkosh, Wis. along with three of my Austin Knights Pathfinder staff members, Thania Castanaza, Judith Iram and Dania Estrada, from the Stonehill Seventh-day Adventist Church in Pflugerville, Tex. More than 200 attendees completed the honor with others observing or waiting to complete the honor. It was a wonderful experience both teaching a valuable skill and meeting people from all over the world.
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The article originally appeared in the January/February 2020 issue of the Southwestern Union Record | issuu.com/swurecord
Original Submission
What do the Pathfinders have to do to get the plastic canvas honor? Pathfinders need to learn at least seven stitches from the list and complete a project in class. They also need to complete the worksheet so they can teach the honor at their local clubs.
What is a normal response from someone who hears about the plastic canvas honor? They first ask if it is an honor or just a class, then they want to know how long it would take for them to earn the honor. They have been extraordinarily responsive towards the class, the fact that the class takes two and a half hours didn’t affected their interest at all. The engagement had been exceptional to the point of them coming back with more pathfinders who are interested in taking the class/earning the honor.
What do they think they are doing? They think they are learning a new skill which will help them create projects of their own invention. They found their levels of concentration, relaxation, and dextricity are increased through the learning of this skill. Some students from overseas, even expressed their interest on building projects for fundraiser and social endeavors like donating their works to people sick of cancer.
How long have you been teaching the honor? I have been teaching this honor for thirteen years starting in Northeastern Conference when I first submitted the honor for approval, and now in Texas Conference.
How did you get started teaching it? While working as VBS director one summer, when two of our senior church members decided to teach the kids to make baskets from plastic canvas. I was fascinated by the flexibility and durabliity of the material and decided to do some research. I discovered that people had for years been using this canvas for making beautifully embroidered projects for practical (and not so practical) uses. Plastic Canvas then became my new relaxation hobby. It was one of my Pathfinders who suggested that I submit it as an honor to NAD for approval so that Pathfinders could learn to do it also. This year I decided to submit my request to the honors committee at Oshkosh and it has been a blessing to share my skill with our Pathfinders from around the world. I taught the honor to two of my staff members – Thania Castanaza, Judith Iram and Dania Estrada- so they could assist in teaching at Oshkosh 2019 and I must say they both did a phenomenal job.
What made you want to teach 55,000 Pathfinders this honor at Oshkosh? (I realize all probably did not go through, but I am sure a large number did): I chose to teach this honor at Oshkosh because of the many benefits to be gained from it. These include stress relief, improved mental wellness, creative fulfillment, development of concentration and fine motor skills, and it gives our Pathfinders a little reprieve from electronics/technology. We had more than 220 Pathfinders (and their Directors/Counselors) taking the honor. The results exceeded my expectations. This honor was greatly accepted by all our students. Additionally, the honor helps elders in maintaining muscle and joints flexibility by delaying the progression of arthritis and on the neurological side it helps to keep their brains active thus decreasing the risk of Alzheimer.
How did you estimate how many things to bring to teach? I calculated the size of the project each Pathfinder would make, the amount of yarn required for each project, then multiplied that by the number of Pathfinders I expected for each session. I anticipated 15 Pathfinders per session, but fortunately, I brought extra material because I always like to have a contingency plan. We had 24 Pathfinders sign up for each session, with many more standing around to observe or wait to join the next class. It was sometimes overwhelming because we didn’t have the two tables or the number of chairs I requested, but Pathfinders were willing to sit on the floor just to be allowed in the class. We were truly blessed.
How many ended up taking your honor? 220 Pathfinders and staff
What is different between the the basic and advanced honors? The first class is where they learn to stitches, they make small simple projects. On the advanced class, they apply the skills they learned to designing and creating their own original projects. Depending of the student level of skill, even at the beginner class we were able to teach additional stitches when required by the students.
What are some reactions of Pathfinders as they are working on the honor or when finished with their project? They were amazed by their ability to create something beautiful in such a short period of time, the agility their hands reached in such a short time, they became excited by the infinite project ideas based on their needs and wants.
What are some designs they made? They were provided with the materials to make a cube, which may be hung as a decorative piece or air freshener in their cars (with a little potpourri tucked inside).Some considered using the cube design as a prayer box, jewelry box or even making coasters from the six sides.
Anything else of interest to the story including any miracles or unusual things that happened along the way?
People, in general, were touched at finding in our yarn collection the colors of their country’s flag. My original intention was for each person to create a keepsake cube representing their country. One of them started to cry. Since she is from Venezuela she stated that this class helped her to see that dedication and patience are key to the success when our lives are dedicated to Christ. She is planning to make a lot of coasters and sell them in order to fundraise money and send it to Venezuela to help her churches provide medication to people in need. We cried and prayed together.
Another beautiful case is our student from Korea. This enthusiastic, dynamic, and self-confident boy was about seven years old. He resisted help after the basic instructions were taught to him. He said: “I will make gifts to my friends and teachers.”