Special to The Source
On March 9, the Routt Catholic High School (RCHS) Crochet Club hosted their annual “Blessing of the Blankets.”
For over six years, the RCHS Crochet Club has been an active group. Led by faculty advisor Tracy Ptacek, each fall she invites any interested RCHS students to join her for special “lunch and learn” sessions, where they learn how to crochet. Once the students get the hang of things, they are officially invited to join the Crochet Club whose efforts are put into making blankets, scarves and hats that can be donated to area organizations. The club is free for students to join thanks to generous yarn donations the school has received from community members and grants. This year, RCHS partnered with Cedarhurst of Jacksonville for the lap blankets and Jacksonville School District 117’s Early Years Program for the baby blankets. Representatives from each of these agencies joined the RCHS students, along with Our Saviour Parish’s Reverend Adam Zawadzki, who led the group in prayer and then provided a blessing over the more than 30 items that were to be donated.
“The Crochet Club is a perfect example of RCHS providing different ways for our students to grow and learn new skills,” commented RCHS Development/Enrollment Director Colleen Doyle. “We’re the only high school in the state that I’ve seen has varsity athletes arriving to a competition and crocheting before their game. Male or female, what an awesome opportunity to offer our students who may want to learn a new skill. And when you throw in the service component on top of that, it’s a perfect example of us doing what we can to deliver a memorable and meaningful academic experience.”
