Junior Melody Larkin and senior Rylie Arndt discuss the measurements for strips cut into a T-shirt, which will be turned into a pillow.
Teacher Jim Jackman talks with students at work on the pillow project.
Jarrett Lawver and Gavin Sundve work together on stuffing a pillow. Fabric for the pillows, some of which comes from donated T-shirts, is cut to the proper size, tied and stuffed with a polyester batting. The two Litchfield High School classes have made between 300 and 400 pillows since the volunteer effort began earlier this school year.
Madysyn Saylor and Ethan Collins put together pillows.
The classroom at the Alternative Learning Program annex building to the south of Litchfield High School is a flurry of activity and chatter on Wednesday mornings as students gather to work on pillows.
While the intense athletic competition was the main attraction at Litchfield High School games this year, some fans also received a touch of softness — small, cushy pillows thrown into the crowd during breaks in the action.
The pillows, made by students in LHS special education and alternative learning programs, grew into a popular item.
But more than a gimmicky giveaway, the pillows represent an academic and social collaboration that has paid dividends for students responsible for their creation.
It all started with a conversation between special education teacher Jim Jackman and Terri Orzolek, who is coordinator/teacher for the alternative learning program. Orzolek wanted to establish a unit on volunteering for her students, while Jackman sought continued training in a variety of social and physical skills areas for his students.
The social communications class taught by Jackman typically devotes Wednesdays to vocational skills.
“We’ve been doing it probably for the last 12 to 14 years, since I got here,” Jackman said. “It’s a combination of kids with different abilities and different skills, and it’s working on communication skills, advocacy, connecting with their community, work skills.”
Daily living skills are a focus, so cooking, cleaning, taking care of themselves, and making healthy choices all have been topics for lessons. About eight years ago, Jackman said, the class went to the high school weight room three days a week. The experience provided not only an opportunity for exercise, it also afforded a chance to talk about and work on personal hygiene.
Classes also have made cribbage boards, checker boards and spinners in the past.
When Orzolek contacted him about teaming up with the alternative learning program on a service learning project, she saw a chance to build connections and provide a different perspective for some of her students.
First, it was an opportunity to volunteer — something she says many of her students didn’t really understand before the program.
“When I started, I wanted to do a service project, so they learned how to give back to their community, where they did not have to be paid,” Orzolek said. “I started noticing, even inside (the high school), when I would talk to kids about volunteering … I heard, ‘I’m not volunteering. If I don’t get paid for it, I’m not doing it.’”
She believes she’s seen an attitude change among her students since implementing the service project.
During her first year as ALP coordinator, students made tie blankets for Meeker County Social Services. Last year, students helped at Lake Ripley Elementary School.
“I think Terri hit on something there,” Jackman said. “That was a big one, that volunteer piece and doing something for others — being givers. You know, a lot of times as kids, we’re takers, we’re taking the time or taking the education. To learn to give back and do something for others is important.”
It’s a theme Jackman has carried through with his social communications class. About 10 years ago, he said, his class worked in the high school wood shop creating cornhole boards for use by other students at the school.
“I still have them. With all the kids, we burned their names into the side of (the board),” Jackman said. “We utilized the shop … we used the shop equipment. But again, it was about giving back and doing something for others.”
Beyond the emphasis on volunteering there has been a lesson in working together and inclusion. For Jackman, evidence of that lesson comes as he stands in the hallway outside the ALP classroom and listens while students assemble pillows.
“The cool thing with this group, as you can hear, is the chattering in there,” Jackman said on a recent Wednesday morning. “My kids are typically pretty quiet, unless they’re in a small room with the kids that they know (and) they feel comfortable with. But in most classes, they’re not the kids that say too much.”
Collaborating with students in the special education program puts alternative learning program students in a position of leadership, Orzolek said.
“It’s a cool thing for them, because they’ve never had that opportunity,” Orzolek agreed
“It’s awesome that Terry’s kids get to be leaders, classroom leaders,” Jackman said. “And that they’d be the ones to get my kids to talk, because my kids a lot of times are quieter. They’re not initiating, they’re not maintaining conversations, they’re not … that give-back exchange, it’s not there. So the cool thing is to listen to them chatter.”
And while there’s chatter, there’s also actual work being done. The students work together to transform donated fabric into pillows. Recently it was T-shirts left over from various high school programs that the students measured and cut, then stuffed with polyester batting and tied the fabric to create pillows.
Rylie Arndt, a senior, was among the students who did the initial planning for the project.
“We didn’t really know how we were going to do it, so I took them home to figure out how to do it,” Arndt said, explaining how he spent time measuring and cutting fabric outside of class to develop the best method for turning T-shirts and other fabrics into pillows.
“Now he’s our trainer,” Orzolek said with a smile.
Though they’ve not tracked the total number, Arndt estimated the students have made between 300 and 400 pillows since they began the project in October. The fruits of their labor have been distributed at a variety of Litchfield High School events, with students tossing them into the crowds at football and basketball games and other events.
And while throwing them into the crowd is how they’ve been distributed, the pillows are no throwaway item.
“In the fall, I had some people come up and ask me, ‘Do you have any of those? We’d really love to have one. You know, we saw them at the game that were thrown, do you have any more,’” said Jackman, who in addition to being a special education instructor is head varsity football coach at LHS.
“And (the students) enjoy that, you know, hearing that those pillows they made, that have been tossed at games or whatever, that people like them,” Orzolek said. “I’ve been told people like to use them on airplanes when they’re traveling, and I’ve shared that with the students.”
That positive feedback, in addition to the connections they’ve made with other students, has been a confidence boost for those involved in the pillow project. Many involved in the alternative learning program struggle in a traditional classroom setting, some are dealing with problems outside of school that make learning a challenge. But through the ALP’s more fluid — yet, accountable — structure, and programs like the pillow project, they find success.
“Some kids need less distractions, some kids just need a different setting … more just focused, or maybe it’s more individual attention,” Jackman said. “They need these connections, they need the relationship part.”
“A lot of them, they come out here, behind in credits, pretty defeated,” Orzolek said. “They don’t think they’re going to graduate. And so it’s that whole piece of buying into the program. And you know, when they do, they can really, really thrive.”
It didn’t take long for a local developer to express interest in city-owned property following the Litchfield City Council’s discussion last month of the potential for turning vacant lots into housing.
Gregg Schilling appeared at the March 7 City Council meeting to ask about acquiring city-owned lots at East Second Street and North Gorman, and East Nelson Street and Meadow Road.
In a letter sent to the City Council, Schilling said he would be interested in constructing an eight-unit apartment building with detached eight-stall garage on the Second-Gorman site. The plan would be similar, he said, to a set of four-plexes he built and manages on South Gorman Avenue.
For the East Nelson-Meadow site, Schilling said he envisions building a slab-on-grade five-plex with attached garages.
During the City Council meeting, Schilling said he receives inquiries every day about rental units available in Litchfield, which motivates him to construct more multi-family housing units.
The City Council discussed during a February work session the idea of selling city-owned lots to developers with a focus on creating addition housing.
City Administrator Dave Cziok said at the time that there were about 60 single-family residential lots available for sale in the city through private owners, and he asked how selling city-owned lots for single family housing would change or enhance development.
Council member Darlene Kotelnicki, who has encouraged the city to consider selling lots it owns for residential development, said that property owned by the city might be more affordable than what is otherwise available. Council member Ron Dingmann said he thought selling city-owned lots for development could help increase the city’s tax base and ease the housing shortage.
Cziok said during the work session that the East Nelson Street property, if developed, could create drainage issues for properties to the south. Given that, he suggested the city allow development on just two of the three lots, with the third used for drainage.
Some of the vacant lots the city owns also lack infrastructure. It would be important that developers understand this and not expect the city to provide the infrastructure in addition to tax abatement.
Cziok later suggested the city could seek developer proposals, which would be reviewed by the city planner.
In the end, the City Council agreed that developers were aware of lots available within the city, and if interested in one, could contact the city.
Thus, Schilling’s appearance at last week’s City Council meeting.
City Council members spent several minutes discussing the proposals before asking Schilling to return to the next meeting with blueprints and setback information for properties in which he has interest.
After a two-year absence due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 24th annual Tim Orth Memorial Foundation Basketball Jamboree is returning to the Glencoe-Silver Lake High School gymnasium, 1825 16th St. E., Glencoe.
The Tim Orth Memorial Foundation assists West Central Minnesota families who have children facing illness or injury. Money is awarded based on need and the availability of funds. It’s named for Tim Orth, a BOLD High School student who was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor in December 1995.
This year's in-person event is scheduled for 4 p.m. Saturday, April 2, with basketball games beginning at 5:30 p.m. Admission is $10 for adults and $6 for students.
As in years past, local boys and girls senior basketball players will face off in a pair of all-star games with plenty of other entertainment from groups such as the Hutchinson Tigers Special Olympics basketball team, the GSL dance line, Kelly's Dance Academy, Touch of Grace Dance and more.
Attendees can also enjoy raffles, concessions and a silent auction, and as always all proceeds will go to benefit this year's six recipients:
- Evee Buss, 11, the daughter of Stephanie Buss of Litchfield
- Amelia Eiden, 1, the daughter of Rosemary Eiden of Hutchinson
- Austin Hobert, 14, the son of Aaron and Heather Hobert of Cokato
- Aspen Kern, 1, the daughter of Alexis Kern of Hutchinson
- Lelan Wojcik, 1, the son of Rebecca Herrmann and Randy Wojcik
- Miko Monroe, 4, of the son of Brielle Monroe of Hutchinson
Along with all of the entertainment planned for the evening, there will be a special recipient ceremony between the girls and boys games.
To donate to the silent auction, call Michelle Becker at 952-212-1511 or email michellebecker@hotmail.com. Donations to the Tim Orth Memorial Foundation can be mailed to: Ralph Johnson, 558 Juergens Road S.W., Hutchinson, MN 55350.
For more information, you can call Johnson at 320-587-6733, email him at grjohn@mchsi.com, or visit the foundation's website at timorthfoundation.org.
Look for more information about this year's recipients in a future issue of the Leader.
