ANAHEIM : Bazaar Items Raise Funds, Self-Esteem

Nikki Montsinger and Shelli Douthit beamed proudly Tuesday as they described how they made tabletop Christmas trees using pine cones, plastic holly, wood and other holiday decorations.

And the smiles on the faces of the two special education students got bigger when somebody bought some of their wares.

“This is a lot of fun,” Montsinger, 23, said. “I loved to help make them.”

The two Basic Occupational Training Center students were among 12 young people who took part Tuesday in the Anaheim Union High School District’s first holiday bazaar for special education students. The students involved have physical, emotional, mental or communication handicaps.

“This gives the students the opportunity to use real-life skills that they would be required to use in the real world,” said Cheryl Escoe, the district’s special education director for vocational training.

Bonnie Morris, Montsinger and Douthit’s teacher, said the bazaar and the two months of work that led up to it gives the students a “sense of accomplishment.”

“They can say: ‘I cut that wood, I sanded it, varnished it and painted it and then someone else found value in it and was willing to pay for it,’ ” Morris said. “That does wonders for the students’ self-esteem.”

The students had a variety of goods for sale. There were Christmas cards that they designed, a 4-foot-tall wooden Mickey Mouse and various ornaments and wreaths, including some made from seashells.

Michael Lopez, 23, and Jason Gonzalez, 22, both from the learning center, were selling the wooden Thanksgiving plaques they had made, which were decorated with scenes depicting pilgrims, turkeys and cornucopias.

The soft-spoken young men said they were proudest of the plaque decorated with the turkey.

Renee Wright and Erika Delgadillo, both 16 and students in Western High School’s special education department, were selling holiday candleholders made of four candy canes each and tree ornaments made of discarded jigsaw puzzle pieces.

“They came out really nice,” Wright said, showing off the green and red tree ornaments, which were shaped like small wreaths. But we had to be careful when we were making them. We had to use hot glue and that can burn your fingers if you’re not careful.”