Watertowndaylitimes
Two students at Indian River High School gather around a black cloth panel. Sewing needles weave in and out of the cloth, attaching another layer of floral cloth spelling “SAM,” the name of a man in Syracuse who lost his life to acquired immune deficiency syndrome, or AIDS.
These students are a part of the Teen AIDS Task Force, a club at the school that raises awareness of the deadly disease. Every year on World AIDS day, Dec. 1, they have displayed pieces of the Central New York AIDS Memorial Quilt and led workshops to educate their fellow classmates.
For the first time, the students are making their own panel of the quilt.
“That’s one of our big days that we try to do something,” said Kristie L. Fuller, high school theater teacher and club adviser. “Sometimes, we have an HIV positive person come in to speak.
The club has been a part of Indian River’s fabric for longer than Mrs. Fuller’s 17 years as a theater teacher at the school.
This year, the club will spend the beginning of today collecting three quilt panels to display from second period until 2:15 p.m. Teachers will be bringing their students to see the quilt panels and take part in educational sessions discussing facts and myths about HIV and AIDS. At 2:30 p.m., a panel dedication and remembrance ceremony accessible to the public will take place at the high school theater.
Only a certain number of quilt panels can be displayed at one time, Mrs. Fuller said. The central New York quilt is a part of the bigger National AIDS Memorial Quilt that is too large to be laid down in a single place.
“Right now, it is equivalent to 27 NFL football fields,” she said. “The display honors 91,000, but still represents less than 20 percent of those lives lost.”
The panel the students will be adding is for an artistic man who loved to walk on railroad tracks and go to the beach. A gold railroad track runs diagonally through the panel and his artwork was printed on fabric to make up letters.
“We were really adamant about wanting to make a panel,” said Tabethia L. Fifield, an 18-year-old senior. “We started putting it together last week.”
The club hosts several events throughout the year, including giving gifts to five local people who currently have HIV, but World AIDS Day is their biggest event.
“We do a lot of awareness events to make sure people don’t just have the stereotype of AIDS,” said Nicolette L. Marshall, a 15-year-old sophomore.
SUNY Potsdam will also be displaying the quilt at the college throughout today. The traveling quilt will make its way to Madrid-Waddington High School on Friday, Potsdam High School on Dec. 6, Clifton-Fine High School on Dec. 8 and Watertown High School on Dec. 15.
Le Moyne College in Syracuse also will host a World AIDS Day service today at their chapel beginning at 7:30 a.m.