Holding the attention of any classroom can be challenging on a sunny morning. Offering a stimulating two-hour project for special education students was a Herculean task.
A teacher, volunteer and classroom aide were up to the job Wednesday at Kamiak High School. There was teacher Lyn Geronimi, fondly called "G" by his students; Carol Evavold, an educational assistant who knew the names of every student’s dog; and knitting instructor Jude Vang, who breezed amongst the students like she had a master’s degree in psychology.
Craft skills and a heart for helping brought volunteer Vang to the classroom. She spent a weekend making scarf kits that anyone could tie together using a guide board. She met Evavold half a dozen years ago when Vang taught at Great Yarns in Everett.
In the Mukilteo classroom, Vang turned scarf making into a math lesson. Inches, yards, lengths and numbers of ties all figured into the yarn project. She got the attention of the class when she showed a machine that spun packaged yarn into workable round mounds.
Grace Hutson-Miller, 18, eagerly started hanging strands of pre-cut yarn onto notches in the guide board. She said she didn’t mind being in a special education class.
"I had some brain damage when I was born," Hutson-Miller said. "I surpassed my doctor’s expectations."
She hoped to become a medical assistant after high school. To properly look down at the guide board, Hutson-Miller rested her chin on her chest.
"They thought I would have cerebral palsy," she said. "Look at me now."
She didn’t need extra help with the day’s project. I needed help at the next table when Ever Terrazas, a born tease, wouldn’t give me a straight answer. He told me he was 12. Only the little twitch of his lip told me to not believe a word.
He said he was born in 1987, then said 1988, as we played "torture the reporter." He said he could drive, then he said he was 15. I believed he was serious when he said he worked on a farm with his uncle and was making the scarf for his grandmother in Mexico.
Evavold, who had helped in the classroom for several years, said not to pay attention to Ever’s teasing. He was very creative, she said. Sitting at his table, Brandon Smith, 18, pointed to individual bulletin boards each student got to personally decorate around the room.
"I’m thinking about being a toy tester," Smith said. "I’m good with my hands."
Next year, he will be in the district’s program for ages 18 to 21. The education he got this year was designed by Geronimi to focus on independent thinking and integrated learning. He said his students, who don’t fit any mold, needed things that weren’t found in the curriculum.
He said some have physical limitations and some do quite well academically. He appreciated the scarf project, especially when he learned some had never done crafts when they were younger. Tying scarves gave students a sense of accomplishment.
He gladly modeled one of the finished mufflers with a sassy flip around his neck.
"It’s a fun group," Geronimi said. "These are great kids."
Evavold, the classroom assistant, patiently tied yarn for Ashley Mullavey, 19, who said she was born with spina bifida. She unraveled small strips of tying yarn with her left hand as she sat in an a motorized wheelchair. I was distracted by Shelby Graham, almost 17, who wanted to show me pictures of pets on her bulletin board.
A friend told Shelby she looked like Britney Spears. I agreed. She explained that she had a learning disability and attention deficit disorder. She looked forward to trying to make the school golf team this spring and getting her name on our sports pages.
Back at Brandon Smith’s table, Vang helped the bearded student tie strings when he got a bit tired. The Everett woman said crafting is her career. She already showed some of the class how to make stepping stones and might go back to teach how to make hand-cast cement leaves.
Like anyone who volunteered, she said she met amazing people. Sharing her gifts and time was an outlet for creativity.
"Everyone should volunteer," Vang said. "That’s my message."
She finished tying one scarf and moved to help another student.
"I’m not anything special," Vang said.
Having viewed her dedication, I begged to differ.
Columnist Kristi O’Harran: 425-339-3451 or
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