Students walking the halls of Bellevue West may have seen posters for a club called Fiber Friends. On the last Friday of every month, teachers Colleen Veys and Leslie Hooper host this club in room 335.

Fiber Friends is a club dedicated to arts and crafts of all sorts, ranging from making simple slime to full-on knitting projects. 

“It is beginner friendly,” Hooper said. “You can come in and hopefully maybe learn something from someone who’s ‘an expert’ in the area.”

Fiber Friends was made in honor of the late Deb Richardson. Richardson would sometimes have a gathering of friends to all work on various projects together, which they had dubbed themselves as Fiber Friends. 

The club was also made after Veys and Hooper had noticed a developing interest for crafting amongst their students.

“There were a lot of students that were really interested in crafting,” Hooper said. “There are a lot of different media [interests] that our students have in common, are interested in, and we knew that there would be kind of a good market for it.”

Since a lot of kids have been interested in a crafting club, meetings have been rather large.

“I know the last few times that we’ve had the club, it’s like the whole room has been filled,” Veys said. ”And its students of all walks of life. It’s not just the nerdy kids or the weird. It’s anyone that wants to craft comes and crafts.”

Veys and Hooper said they also really appreciate the sense of community that the group brings. It also allows for kids to get more creative and make something they’re actually happy about. 

“I just love when kids come in here and they actually communicate with each other and they’re not on their phones,” Veys said. “They’re actually creating something that they’re happy about and they get to take it home and show off to their parents like when they were in elementary school.”

The club also gives students a time to express themselves and spend some quality time with friends.

“[I love] hearing kids say that this is their favorite day of the month and having them have something to look forward to in a time when it kind of seems like our youth feel so lost,” Hooper said. “It’s just kind of nice for them to have a place to find themselves and just be themselves and it’s really great.”