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Happening ... in the Local Church
 First-grade
teacher Jane Shine received a Lilly Endowment grant for her proposal
“Plain Jane: A Journey into the Simple Life.” (Photo by Caroline B.
Mooney) |
By Caroline B. Mooney
The
Catholic Moment
WESTFIELD — Immersion into the Amish lifestyle will give first-grade teacher Jane Shine new skills to share with her students and the rest of St. Maria Goretti School.
Shine is recipient of a 2010 Teacher Creativity Fellowship grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. Her accepted grant proposal, “Plain Jane: A Journey into the Simple Life,” calls for her to live among several Amish communities for six weeks this summer, learning herb and vegetable gardening skills, canning techniques and quilting methods.
“I heard about the grant and wanted to learn other ways to utilize skills,” she said. “I hope to learn a lot about doing things without technology.”
Shine is a quilter and has taught her students to quilt. Past classroom-made quilts have gone to a student’s relative who is a monk, as well as to sick children and the elderly.
She hopes to use her new gardening skills at school, too.
“Over the last few years I have had my students participate in some small garden projects,” Shine said. “I think it’s a neat idea for the class, to teach them to be environmentally concerned. I have students plan a garden and plant seeds in the classroom. Then, I put those plants in my home garden and have the class come to my house to harvest everything. Last year, I canned a lot of the food and gave some to a local food bank.
“I plan to expand this project by learning how to plant, maintain and harvest a garden without lots of technology,” she said. “Our principal (Rebecca Hammel) and I have discussed using this information to plant a school garden. We would like to see the produce from the garden donated to our parish food bank.”
“We are thrilled that she’s a grant recipient,” Hammel said. “I always encourage my teachers to look for grants. The long-term goal of potentially having a garden on our campus is great. Students could really learn the full cycle of growing and distributing food, especially to the needy in our community. It aligns with her interests both professionally and personally. It’s truly a purposeful service project.”
Shine leaves June 12 to stay in Middlebury, Ind., then goes on to visits in Nappanee and Goshen, Ind.; Lancaster County, Penn., and finally, Geauga County, Ohio, which has the country’s second largest Amish population.
“I am so excited to begin this journey,” she said. “I will keep a daily journal of everything I learn and see.”
In preparing her grant request, Shine got in touch with Amish communities through other quilters and by tracking down people she read about it in the book Why Cows Learn Dutch: And Other Secrets of the Amish Farm, written by a county extension agent in Ohio.
“I also contacted the Nappanee tourism board and they gave me a list of people who were open to having outsiders visit,” Shine said.
She will divide her time between actually living in some of the Amish households and staying in bed-and-breakfasts.
The Amish have strict rules for English (non-Amish) staying in their communities.
“I have to wear a dress that comes below the knee,” Shine said. “It can’t be sleeveless and has to be a certain color. I can wear makeup and do my hair if I want, but I’m not going to. No jewelry is allowed. I won’t be staying with families who have showers, but arrangements have been made so I can go to another house each day to bathe.”
Shine won’t live among any of the Old Order Amish, the strictest of the orders, but she will take part in an Old Order quilting bee.
“A lot of sects don’t hand-quilt anymore,” she said, “they use sewing machines that are operated by a generator or a treadle.”
Shine explained that while the Amish have one faith, they live in sects made of about 20 families, each with its own bishop and customs.
“One family has set up an opportunity for me to ask three questions of their bishop,” she said. “I don’t know what my questions will be — every day I think of something different I want to ask. I can only speak to him under certain conditions — and they still have to meet me first.”
“Mrs. Shine is a great teacher and a wonderful lady,” said Father Kevin Haines, pastor of St. Maria Goretti. “She always has great ideas and is very creative with her gifts and talents. We look forward to this — especially in an age where we are learning to take care of the earth more and more. Teaching kids and bringing kids to healing through that is an amazing opportunity. It’s a neat idea and obviously Eli Lilly thought so, too. We are all looking forward to the end result. I’m sure that what we are all going to learn is beyond our expectations.”
“I am hoping that I get an opportunity to explain to the Amish why my faith is so important to me, and kind of equate it to their commitment, because being Catholic is a huge commitment,” Shine said. “You can’t just be willy-nilly Catholic, you have to believe it. When I applied for the grant, I was told that some families are very interested in other faiths.
“I made sure to tell Father Kevin that I am not looking for another faith experience, I am just curious,” she said. “I really think it will strengthen my own faith to see other people so dedicated to the commitment and challenges that they overcome for their faith. Hopefully, I can take that and share it with my community and they will share what they learn from me with others.”
Some of the $8,000 grant money Shine received will be donated to each Amish community she visits.
“We came up with a rate I will pay each family I stay with, and I will also pay for lodging elsewhere,” she said. “I will attend an Amish auction and use some money to buy canned goods to show my students.”
The rest of the money will pay for a quilt frame, food and gas.
Shine spent about five years reading about the Amish to come up with her grant proposal.
Everything had to be planned ahead. Once it was accepted, she had to re-check with everyone to see if she could still visit.
She is one of 120 Indiana educators to receive the Lilly grants out of 550 applicants. The program encourages Indiana educators to pursue their personal interests.
Since the Teacher Creativity Fellowship Program began in 1987, 2,187 awards have been granted.