Learning through service: Clear Creek Christian project helps kids understand cancer

Dozens of pictures of loved ones line a floor-to-ceiling window in the Clear Creek Christian School lobby. Some are alive, others have died. All have had cancer.

In the bottom right corner is a photo of Tammy Stremming Jeffress sitting on a couch with her grandkids, Maya and Mason Taylor. It’s one of the last photos they took together before she died of brain cancer in January.

Maya is only in kindergarten at Clear Creek, so she isn’t quite old enough to understand what took her grandma away. But for Mason, a sixth grader, learning about cancer helps him cope.

This week, the entire school worked together to learn about the science behind the disease, listen to survivor stories and make hats and pillows for those undergoing treatment. For Mason, everything tied back to his grandma.

“It was scary for the kids, watching mom get sick,” said Shanda Taylor, Mason and Maya’s mom. “Mason was very close with her. They were best friends. He would stay over there with her all the time. So I think this has been good for him.”

More in education: Clear Creek Christian School students tackle community issue

Need is the mother of invention

Every student at Clear Creek Christian School knows someone who has had cancer. Even Principal Scott Wallace has had it.

Wallace came to Clear Creek from Bloomington’s Project School two years ago with a passion for hands-on, service-based learning. In his first year as principal, the school donated food through Community Kitchen’s backpack buddies program.

Last year’s project was testing the waters, Wallace said. This year, he wanted to amp it up and have the students physically create something to help their community.

In 2020, Wallace was diagnosed with colon cancer. Throughout his treatment, he realized there were many more people in the county dealing with cancer than he thought.

For this year’s project, the students sewed pillows for breast cancer patients and hats for people undergoing chemotherapy.

The project was more than that. They scraped their cheeks to collect cells. The children examined their cells under microscopes and learned what happens when cells become cancerous. They heard from cancer survivors with the IU Health Olcott Center. They shared stories about their own loved ones who have had cancer.

Wallace didn’t want the students to make the pillows and hats without understanding why it matters. And he wanted them to get involved with organizations in the community that are already helping cancer patients.

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“I think too often we ask kids and schools and teachers to solve a problem in a novel way, when in reality there are people we know here in Bloomington who are giving their lives to this issue,” he said. “For us to think, ‘Oh, let’s do a movie night and solve world hunger,’ that doesn’t actually work.”

For several days, students helped cut, sew and stuff U-shaped pillows that will be delivered to the Cancer Support Community building in Bloomington. By Tuesday afternoon, they’d made about 50 pillows with help from Sherwood Oaks Christian Church volunteers, including Florence Dunn.

Dunn received her own pillow last year when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She placed the pillow under her armpit so her lumpectomy incision didn’t rub against her arm when she walked. She placed it at her side when she slept at night. And she used it as a buffer between her chest and the seatbelt when she drove herself to radiation appointments.

“It definitely was very helpful with the discomfort, and it meant a lot to me,” Dunn said.

The church volunteers, called the Sherwood Oaks Piecemakers, have spent decades making crafts to help people in the community. They make cancer bags for mastectomy patients so they can put their drainage tubes in them. They make mitts for stroke patients so they can bathe themselves. They make newborn outfits for stillborn babies at the hospital.

“There’s always something to do,” Dunn said. “Need is the mother of invention.”

'It felt good to help'

As fourth graders Jordyn Altman and Kendall Graves took a break to eat lunch, they talked about the ribbon colors they chose for the pillows.

Kendall had never sewed anything before, so that was her favorite part. Jordyn said she liked learning about how cancer develops.

“Obviously, like, when I was little, I didn’t know what cancer was,” she said. “But it’s really common for people to have, so it’s important to learn about.”

Kendall learned people can get cancer from the sun, so she wants to take more precautions to stay safe outside.

Both Jordyn and Kendall and their friends at lunch all could name someone who has had cancer. A grandpa, an aunt, a friend’s mom, a mom’s friend.

“It’s pretty hard to go through it,” Kendall said. “So it felt good to help.”

Contact Christine Stephenson at cstephenson@heraldt.com.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Clear Creek Christian School learns about cancer with service project