Only twice in her seven years teaching Waukegan High School students English as a second language did Milagros Ortega feel compelled to give every student involved an A on a project.
But, after looking for an assignment teaching the teens about the environment, she divided them into groups of four or five to make clothing — including some dresses worthy of a formal occasion — from recyclable materials.
Shortly after Ortega’s students earned their collective A just before spring break, 83,000 people saw what they created on Waukegan Community Unit School District 60’s Facebook page, and many agreed with the teacher’s assessment.
“I am humbled to see such a wonderful representation of artistic creativity and talent, and to know it came from our hometown, Waukegan,” one person wrote on Facebook. “You are all very talented.”
“Someone needs to submit these to Project Runway,” added another commenter.
Ortega’s students used mostly paper, scissors and creativity to create dresses and other outfits from recyclable materials as a collaborative class project in late March to give them an appreciation of their environment and a lesson in teamwork.
Looking for a way to teach her students about the environment, Ortega said she got the idea by reading a National Geographic publication. It motivated her to have them make clothes from paper and other recyclable materials.
“I was looking for something they could do that was hands-on,” she said. “They did it all on their own. They really collaborated with each other very well.”
Some of their ingenuity showed when it came time to fit their classmates in the clothing to get the proper size. Though as far as she knew none of the students had formal training as a tailor, Ortega said they found a way.
“They used tablecloths to wrap around each other, and started to build the dress from there,” she said. “One group took the dress home, and they finished it there. One of their mothers helped.”
As she stood back and looked at the students’ creations, Ortega said she was impressed with the group effort. Different teens plied diverse skills to create a sense of true teamwork. She decided to reward the effort by giving everyone an A.
“They all put something into it,” she said, “No one was able to do it alone. They all participated by putting something unique into it.”
Jesus Romero, a junior and part of the class, worked with classmates on a ball gown, which had flowers flowing wide below the waste. An immigrant from Mexico who came to Waukegan 18 months ago, he said it reminded him of native fashions there.
“I was able to share something about Mexico,” Romero said.
Along with doing things with their hands, Ortega’s students like Romero came to Waukegan from places like Mexico with a limited knowledge of English. Romero said the project helped him improve his English skills.
“It was fun because it really helped my English when I talked to my group,” he said. “It was a really great way to practice my English.”
Once the project was complete and the students got the week off for spring break in late March, a member of District 60’s communications team posted pictures of the clothing on Facebook, alerting the community to what the teens did.
Nick Alatzakis, the District 60 communications director, said when pictures of the dresses and other outfits were posted on March 26 — the second weekday of spring break — he got notice after notice on his smartphone.
“My phone was exploding,” he said. “I knew it was going to be very popular. It went locally viral. This only happens once or twice a year, and this time it was spring break.”
Alatzakis said 83,000 saw the pictures of the outfits as people went to the Facebook page and began making comments and sharing them with others.
