Parish Extend offers opportunities for after-school enrichment<\/p>\n
With a single strand of yarn, I found myself tangled in the creative energy of Parish Episcopal School\u2019s after-school enrichment program, Parish Extend, where hallways buzzed with students exploring passions beyond the classroom \u2014 from fiber arts to cooking to public speaking.<\/p>\n
In Weaving Class, third through seventh graders transformed threads into twill masterpieces under the guidance of art teacher Samantha Cooper, a fine arts graduate in fibers and surface\/textile design, who brings both expertise and enthusiasm to every loom.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cEach culture has its own history of weaving to produce fabric,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n
Cooper encourages students to take ownership of their craft, letting them choose colors and textures they like.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t put any restrictions on them, whatever yarn they find, is what they can use,\u201d she said. A soft, fuzzy chenille yarn was a particular class favorite, adding texture and vibrancy to every piece.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou really get to express yourself with what you do,\u201d said fifth-grader Charley Cleland while demonstrating the process. \u201cYou push down the pedals to create different patterns. Just watch \u2026 over two, under two \u2026 now make sure it\u2019s just loose enough here and then feed it down so it\u2019s nice and tight here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fourth-grader Margaret Gross, the youngest participant, discovered weaving in Cooper\u2019s art class.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI loved it and it\u2019s even more fun now that I can finish a piece,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd I\u2019m gonna help teach some of my classmates.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Margaret, explaining the difference between a plain weave and a basket weave with the patience of a master weaver,\u00a0showed me the loom\u2019s pedal order function and hand tension.<\/p>\n
I followed along but soon tangled my warp threads.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt gets much easier with practice,\u201d Olivia Ferrari reassuringly told me. \u201cAt first you have to look down at the pedals, but later it comes natural.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can always fix a mistake,\u201d Cooper reminded the class (and me), untangling my threads before sending the shuttle back smoothly across the loom.<\/p>\n
Down the hall, Aspiring Artists transformed blank canvases into bold, expressive works under contemporary painter Melanie Brannan. Using techniques such as subtractive painting and triple-loading brushes, Brannan encourages students to embrace \u201cthe beautiful and messy world of art\u201d \u2014 each piece becoming it\u2019s own Ms. Mel Original.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, with the scent of muffins drifting from the kitchen, Sage food director and Cooking From Scratch instructor, Christian Santiago, looked on as third- through sixth-graders sliced, diced, and saut\u00e9ed the ingredients for spaghetti pomodoro.<\/p>\n
Even the youngest learners explored science in Geology Rocks and Dinosaurs Roar, led by STEM teacher Jennifer McGraw. Fossil digs, volcano builds, and model Earth projects brought the prehistoric world to life.<\/p>\n
With more than 100 classes in art, music, sports, STEM, and more, Parish Extend transforms after-school hours into a laboratory of creativity and growth.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s where passion meets possibility \u2014 and every student leaves a little more inspired than when they arrived,\u201d said Parish Plus director Niki Kamdar.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Parish Extend offers opportunities for after-school enrichment With a single strand of yarn, I found myself tangled in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":74348,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[160,162,161],"class_list":{"0":"post-74347","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-plano","8":"tag-plano","9":"tag-plano-headlines","10":"tag-plano-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74347\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}