Uncouth in the City

neighborhoodr-elmhurst:

Queens students get into the fold to make paper cranes for Japan

BY CLARE TRAPASSO, NY Daily News

The students had written messages of hope on brightly colored origami paper on Tuesday. Now, they were squirming in their seats and comparing their handiwork with one another.

Public School 122 is one of several Queens schools attempting to fold 1,000 paper cranes in a gesture of support for the Japanese people following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

The Renaissance Charter School in Jackson Heights, Our World Neighborhood Charter School in Astoria and Public School 234 in Astoria are also folding cranes.

“According to Japanese culture, when a person can collect 1,000 paper cranes, it will help ensure good fortune,” said PS 122 Principal Pamela Sabel. “It’s a way to show solidarity.”

The school recently began teaching its middle schoolers how to make the paper birds, she said. The older students are now going into the lower grades to show the younger children how to properly fold the cranes.

The idea for the project came from parent Mina Nakajima-Wu, 29, of Astoria, whose mother still lives in Japan.

She convinced her son’s K-through-8 school to make the cranes, which will be displayed in PS 122’s lobby before being shipped to Japan.

The school is also raising money for the tsunami-battered country, which is also battling a disaster at a damaged nuclear plant.

“Cranes are just a symbol of hope and peace,” said Nakajima-Wu, who taught her son’s fourth-grade class how to make the lucky birds.

“Children feel like they want to make a difference, but don’t know how,” she said. “The crane project would give them something they could do with their hands to make a difference.”

(via neighborhoodr-astoria)