Club activities help Bay High students fashion their futures

December 30, 2025

Bay High Focus Program students are crafting their goals through a series of educational clubs this year.
 
Juniors like Brilynn, Hazel and Zoey are exploring many imaginative activities through the focus program’s partnership with The Bay. They are learning about topics such as fashion, music and content creation in the clubs, which take place for 90 minutes each week during the school year. Students wrapped up a fashion club in the second quarter and will begin a music club in the third quarter.
 
Brilynn smiled as she worked on hand-sewing the final piece of her fashion project. She decided to replicate a multi-hued sweatshirt worn by a character in the Captain America storyline of Marvel Comics. She first removed the left arm of a black sweatshirt and was nearly done replacing it with gray-colored material. She said it was satisfying to see her efforts pay off in the form of a new clothing item.
 
“It’s the whole trial-and-error thing, so it’s fun having to learn over and over again to get it right,” Brilynn said. “Even if it’s not perfect, since I’m not a professional at this, it will still look good in the end.”

 
Hazel and Zoey shared the same type of excitement at a table in another area of the Bay High classroom. Hazel was using a sewing machine to make a sweatshirt with a sun on the front of it, and Zoey was attaching a bright yellow sunflower to a patchwork sweater. Both said they enjoyed experimenting with fashion techniques alongside their Bay High classmates.
 
“I’ve seen a lot of stuff online, and I thought I could try to recreate something,” Hazel said. “It’s the first time I’ve made something really big with a sewing machine.”
 
“I really like patchwork because it’s abstract,” Zoey said. “It doesn’t have to look perfect. You can do whatever you want with it, so it’s really fun for me.”

 
Bay High teacher Brent Jarosz said he has enjoyed watching students design extra learning opportunities in the clubs. Letura Idigima, the youth engagement director of The Bay, began leading the classes this year as a way to build more relationships at Bay High.
 
“It’s been a great chance for them to drive their own learning, which has been awesome to see,” Jarosz said. “They’ve been able to do research on what they wanted to do. A lot of them had ideas, but they’ve been learning how to apply the techniques that they wanted to do in these clubs.”
 
Students began the school year learning how to hone their creativity and physical fitness through skateboarding. Fashion was the focus for the second quarter of club activities. Idigima gave students wide latitude in how they approached their project. Some made new outfits, some attached jewels to shoes and others crafted corsets, skirts and patchwork-themed clothes.
 
“Our goal has been to have all students learn how to use and operate a sewing machine, but past that, we have students who are interested in crocheting, and we have some students who are interested in screen printing,” Idigima said. “Fashion has so many different layers, and our goal is to expose kids to a couple of those different layers in the fashion club.”
 
Hazel said she has appreciated the freedom to try new ideas with a wide selection of materials. Boxes and trays full of thread, fabric, markers and scissors sat on tables behind her as she worked on her sewing machine.
 
“The creative space that we’re given here is something I think is pretty cool,” Hazel said. “Just the access to supplies and the help with making stuff.”

 
Bay High will host a music and audio generation club during the third quarter. Students will learn how to write songs, create beats and work on behind-the-scenes skills like lighting and sound.
 
Idigima said Bay High will partner with radio station KZUM and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Journalism and Mass Communication for a content creation club in the fourth quarter. It will incorporate lessons from the first three clubs into a capstone project that involves multiple types of media.
 
“We’ll pull the skate club, music club and fashion club into that final one,” Idigima said. “If they loved music club and they made a great song, then they’ll have an opportunity to have that song played on KZUM. For kids who are interested in fashion, they’ll get to partner with a student who’s interested in photography or videography and do a photo shoot. That fourth quarter club will just pull in a lot of different layers from each of our other clubs, and students will end up with a really cool project.”

 
Kaylea said her time in fashion club has given her a good creative foundation for the rest of her Lincoln Public Schools career. She decided to pursue a project that involved making an American Indian ribbon skirt as a way to showcase her culture. She said the Bay High activities have helped her fashion more confidence as she moves through the school year.
 
“I’m very excited about this,” Kaylea said. “It’s been a lot of fun to learn how to do this and to see the hard work turn out.”
 
Choose your journey! Explore how LPS Focus Programs like Bay High can customize your high school experience. Take the next step: home.lps.org/focus.
 
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