West Side Academy of Information Technology and Cyber Security has started creating Sleep Mats for the homeless as part of their High School Capstone project through the DPSCD Go Green Challenge.
This year, the entire school came together to create parns from recycled plastic bags, which the Green Panthers (the WSA Green Team) will crochet into sleep mats that people can use to keep their bedding dry when sleeping outdoors.
The bags need to be cut, linked together and rolled up into “plarn” balls before they can be crocheted.
The plarn balls require a lot of hands on work, so in order to incorporate school wide involvement,
Senior Tahj Christian said: “It took us more than a week to crochet the blankets together. The hardest part was trying to crochet the bags without them ripping in half.”
West Side created a competition to see which class could create the longest chain of plastic bag links.
The competition was a success, and Ms. Danyelle Logan’s home room even created a chain that was able to wrap around the entire school twice!
Senior Shaylan Harden said, “It feels good to be able to give back to those who are less fortunate.”
Senior Taja Evans shared his sentiments.
“You can reuse just about anything to help other people in need.”
