kids helping kids: emily trenton and emily collins

There are two young women taking part in the doll project this year. They really aren't kids, I guess. At CTT we love it when young people reach out to help other young people, and we simply (and gratefully) refer to this as "kids helping kids."

Emily Trenton is an incoming junior in high school. She is in the art focus area, and she also plays field hockey and lacrosse. She took Drawing 1 as a freshman and was awarded a silver key in the 2011 Scholastic Art Awards for her mixed media piece "Le President." When she took Sculpture 1, also as a freshman, she won a silver key for her ceramic bust of Queen Elizabeth in her youth. Emily added painting to her class schedule this past year. In her Sculpture II class, she created an independent study in fashion. She made dresses, including one made out of wooden blocks and one made from flattened bottle caps.

  

Emily will transition into AP Studio Art (3D) this fall... after she gets back from two months of teaching sailing at a girl's camp in Wisconsin, that is.

Emily Collins is a sophomore at the University of Arkansas. She is a pre-nursing major and a proud member of the Alpha Omicron Pi Sorority. Originally from Prairie Village, Kansas, Emily led a global service/awareness club “Coalition” at Shawnee Mission East High School. I met Emily when I spoke to that group in 2009; it was on that day that she decided she wanted to go to Uganda. She became a member of Team 4. During that trip, one child in particular stood above the rest in Emily’s eyes. Emily writes:

"Claire Faith, a P6 student was quiet, yet sassy in her quick eye rolls and hidden smiles. The very first day, she took on the role as my photographer and guide, documenting her classmates in their most natural and posed positions and leading me by hand around the SMK grounds. With quiet moments and many jokes throughout the week, Claire Faith and I became inseparable.

 But the moment I realized we would be bound together for much longer than the trip was one day after we had returned from the lake and Claire Faith was trying to fix my broken camera. She worked so hard even after I had given up and told her it was okay. She finally surrendered and asked for my phone so she could play ‘Bug Crusher’ some more. Lying on her stomach on my bed with her petite feet swinging in the air, she beat my high score and simply looked up at me with her sly grin, saying, ‘You have a lot to learn from me’. She had no idea how right she was.”

Emily is now Claire Faith’s sponsor.

“I taught a sewing class when I was at SMK, and fashion design has always been a huge part of my life. I bought the batik fabric in Kampala and decided my doll needed something really dramatic. Whenever I think of Africa, I think of Claire Faith and I picture her strength. I see her in my doll and I wanted her to not only be elegant, but have a sense of heroism. Claire Faith and I are going through school together in a way, and some days when I am not prepared for a test or I choose to slack off, I snap back to reality and know that we must succeed together. The doll’s height , mounted above pattern and material, illustrates that though I am driven and determined, most days, I believe in Claire Faith more than I believe in myself.”