SIUE’s Project Success Program Unveils Student-Inspired Quilt
Hands, hearts, squares and inspirational, call-to-action messages make up the colorful quilt, created in part, by students in the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville East St. Louis Center’s Project Success Program.
The completed quilt was unveiled to the public on Tuesday, Nov. 26 in the Multipurpose Room on the Wyvetter H. Younge Higher Education Campus (WHYHEC). It will be hung in the SIUE East St. Louis Center Director’s Office on the WHYHEC.
“The students were eager and excited to be part of this project,” said Project Success Program Director Tiana Montgomery, who launched the project. “The hands on the quilt belong to the students. They strategically traced their hands onto the fabric, cut out their handprints, and then placed it onto a background square.”
The quilt was funded by a gift from the Meridian Society, an auxiliary organization of the SIUE Foundation.
Additional hearts and squares were also designed by the Project Success students, noted Executive Director Pamela R. Tucker Coaxum of partnering organization, the Greater East St Louis Community Fund.
“The assembly of the hands, hearts and squares into a quilt was designed, pieced, and sewn by Pamela Tucker Coaxum, of the Greater East St. Louis Community Fund,” said Montgomery. “Quilter Druscilla Brock, one of the volunteers, completed the top stich on the quilt.”
Some of the quilt’s motivational sayings generated by students included: “Lead Like Harriet,” “Challenge Like Rosa,” “Believe Like Thurgood,” “Write Like Langston” and “Educate Like SIUE.”
The Project Success Program is a comprehensive after-school tutorial enrichment childcare program, which services children ages 5-14. The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services funds the program. It is designed to serve children who are in protective custody and are referred by the Department of Children and Family Services caseworkers. The program provides services to children living within the St. Clair County and Madison County areas.
Photo:
(L-R) Julie Fix Meyer, of the Greater East St. Louis Community Fund; Angelique Redd, Project Success childcare assistant; Pamela Tucker Coaxum, Greater East St. Louis Community Fund executive director; Julie Babington, senior director of annual giving with the SIUE Foundation; and Tiana Montgomery, SIUE Project Success director.
