Q: What do you guys [the club] do during your meetings?
A: Well, during our hour-long lunch meetings, we make handicraft flowers while promoting the ideals of the Me to We foundation. These flowers signify our passion to make change in the world. Currently, a majority of our flower proceeds go towards the Me to We Club at our school, for building a school in India.
Q: Are there any entry fees?
A: For all newcomers, there is a $10 entry fee to cover the cost of your materials. Just hand in the fee to our club leaders and they will take care of ordering these materials for you. Don't worry, this is a one time fee that will cover the costs of your flower making necessities for the entire school year! Other than that, you just have to bring your enthusiasm and willingness to learn!
Q: Do members get to participate in selling flowers?
A: Yes! Of course! The SGC encourages teens to be active members of their school community. 2 weeks before each planned flower sale, the SGC involves all their members in poster-making, flower-making and all other preparations necessary for the flower sale.
Q: Am I allowed to bring my lunch to the meetings?
A: Yes! You are allowed to eat your lunch in Mr. Olson's room! (Just make sure that you clean up after yourself!)
Q: What are silk flowers? And are they hard to make?
A: First of all, silk flowers are flowers made with synthetic materials such as wires and silk. You can visit our flower gallery page to see what they look like! Secondly, there is a large variety of flowers to make, and are all of varying difficulty. The difficulty varies from individual to individual. Remember, no matter how hard it may be, practice makes perfect!
Q: Why are the instruction page here on the site show instructions to only make a basic flower?
A: The instructions on the site only provide direction for making a basic flower because instructions are merely words, however, if you join are club, we have hands on activities to help with flower making. In addition, some of the flowers may be more difficult and there are supplies that are not available at all local arts stores. Therefore, the instructions for the basic flower that we have posted is to give potential members a preview of what the year holds in store for them.
Q:How many silk flowers can I make each time I come to the club?
A: You can make as many flowers as you want during one rotation. The club leaders have assigned a time period for making and teaching a certain flower. So within that time period you can make as many flowers as your hands will permit. If you ever run out of supplies, just ask for more supplies. Remember, quality is more important than quantity. To give you just an idea, each lunch period is 1 hour long, with 10 minutes at the beginning for setting up and eating lunches, while the remainder 5 minutes is used for clean-up.
Q:Why didn't I heard about the SGC club last year?
A: The SGC club is a new club that was founded this school year by Christina Sun and Zoey Li.
Q:I have no experience with arts and crafts, is the club suitable for me?
A:At the SGC, we have confidence in all of our members. Our club leaders are patient and are willing to hear any problems that you (the club member) may be experiencing. The SGC club welcomes everyone, from any walk of life, whether with tons of experience in handicrafts to no experience at all. You just have to be willing to learn! You can also attend one of the club sessions to get a preview for yourself, what the club would be like. So if you are interested, and are free Tuesdays at lunch, come for a drop-in session at the Secret Garden Club.
Q:Who will teach me to make silk flowers?
A: At the beginning of each flower rotation, the club leaders will teach you how to make the flowers, and which would include live instructions and a demonstration. Then you get to make flowers independently, and if you have anymore problems, you could ask club members or club leaders!
Q:Who created this site?
A: The Chictech team created this website, you can find out more about us by clicking
here. to access our page on the website. Our names are Vivien, Carol, Coco and Nancy. We are also students here at Sir Winston Churchill Secondary.
Q:I want to try and make a silk flower at home, is there an instruction page here on the site?
A: Yes, in fact there is a page on this website containing basic instructions as a preview for what we will be doing in the club. Click
here for the instructions. However, if you want to learn more, it would be much better to attend a live class, where kinesthetic, visual and auditory learners are all welcome!
Q:What is Chictech?
A:Chictech is a web-design contest specially made for teenage females. You have to be in either grade 9 or 10, and you can submit an application each new school year. In the application, you must choose a non-profit organization to design your website on. Remember, you have to be in teams of 3 or 4, so tell your friends and see if they are interested! 1-2 mentors will be assigned your specific project to guide you along the process.
Q:Your team name is 4teen. Who are you guys?
A: We are students at Sir Winston Churchill Secondary. We are currently in grade 9 and enjoying it!
Want to know more?.
Q:Why did you design the web layout like this?
A:Our website is designed with the very simple concept of flowers, flowers and more flowers! However, easy navigation was also a priority. As you can see, we have a navigation bar at the very top of the page for easy access to all information about SGC that you require. In addition, we have links to our supported charity, Me to We and also Free the Children. You can visit our "Links" page for more information.
Q:How did you create this site?
A: We created this site through countless hours of coding with both CSS and HTML. To begin with, we sketched out, and also brainstormed creative concepts that would look good on a website. We also thought about the colors and the concepts that accurately represented the club. Secondly, we got down to action, as we started our coding with CSS. This basically enabled us to do all the formatting you see here, with both the margins, the fonts and the colors used on this website. Then we assigned different roles to the members of the groups in terms of writing the content of the website. We each worked on a section of the website individually. Lastly, we did some peer editing of our pages as a group and gave each other constructive criticism so we could re-edit our own pages. This was done over a 2-3 month period.
Q:Why is child labour bad? The children get paid and it keeps stuff cheap. Is there really a downside?
A: First of all, child labor is very often inhumane. Children are physically abused if their work produced is not up to par, if they are late for work, or if there are any mistakes within their work. Many times, workplaces such as carpet factories produce many air pollutants, which when inhaled is potentially harmful to their health. Most of all, it is not only a danger to their lives, it contributes to the poverty cycle. Children sent to work at an early age often miss out on educational opportunities, therefore often being illiterate. Once they reach adult age, they often find it difficult to better their lives, and are often unemployed due to their lack of education. Thus, this lack of income contributes to the poverty cycle. We, the SGC work to break this poverty cycle.
Q:Why did the SGC choose to support the Free the Children Charity?
A: The Free the Children Charity is often known as the largest network of children helping children. We at the SGC encourage the morals promoted by the Free the Children. This charity helps promote education in developing countries, but not only that, they also promote sustainable living through the construction of rain water barrels, and local schools. Sir Winston Churchill is currently supporitng the Brick by Brick Program, which allows Churchillians to collect pledges and build a school in India. Churchillians believe that every child should have a chance at education!
Want something similar at your school? Just ask your clubs co-ordinator.
More questions? Email us at secretgardenclub@gmail.com
