Paper forms dolled up to showcase Stanislaus County student events

A craft project run amok has taken over the Modesto home of Ron and Janice Emerzian, covering every flat surface with paper dolls designed to tell a story and destined to do great things.

The 171 cardboard cutouts portray students participating in programs supported by the Education Foundation of Stanislaus County. They will decorate tables at the nonprofit’s annual fundraiser Sept. 10, raising $100 per centerpiece for the cause.

That all goes to the foundation. The cardboard forms were donated by Pacific Southwest Container and decoration through hundreds of happily volunteered hours. The materials came from local crafting outlets.

“I lived at those two stores,” said Janice Emerzian with a shake of her head. But she smiled as she looked around her living and dining rooms, where every end table, mantlepiece and credenza holds a lineup of her handiwork. Sofas and chairs do double duty, with dolls lining the seat cushions and propped above the back pillows.

“It was fun. They’ve taken over my house, but I love it,” she said.

Even without eyes, nose or a smile, there’s no denying the dolls have character. Each wears an outfit of scrapbook paper or pleated tissue. Hair is tightly crumpled packing strips or construction paper curled around a pencil, artfully arranged with bows and ribbons.

Mary Poppins with her umbrella and co-star Burt with his chimney-sweeping gear portray Youth Entertainment Stage Company actors performing now through July 26 at the Gallo Center. Spellers with black chalkboard tablets and sticker bees portray the Spelling Championships coming up in November.

Occupational Olympics dolls are suited up in business attire, firefighting gear, painter’s splotches and chef’s hats. Mock-trial litigants line up in suits and ties, carrying teal-lined yellow sticky notes that mimic legal pads and miniature Manila file folders. Sixth-graders gear up for Foothill Horizons Outdoor School.

Music Festival artists with sheet music and violins pose, bedecked in gold glitter and black, set off by a red bow tie and a string of pearls.

Seniors representing the countywide Destination Graduation initiative march with pride in their robes with gold stoles of distinction, carrying scrolls and wearing tasseled caps. Letters cover skirts and shirts of youngsters of the Stanislaus READS initiative.

Ben Franklin with his kite, a pilgrim with his hat and a space-suited astronaut stand up for the foundation’s newest student program, Stanislaus County History Day.

Science Olympiad scientists, Future City engineers, Academic Decathlon and Pentathlon contestants and Harold Pope Junior Relay runners all crowd around the room like kids waiting for the bell to ring.

The inspiration came from the fundraiser’s theme, “Join Hands for Education,” and unused cardboard cutouts Emerzian had to decorate with grandchildren. Add Susi Benes’ artistry and the two friends, both retired teachers, had their days planned and their hands full.

Three dolls will, at least symbolically, join hands on each of 55 tables planned for the event, said Kathy Hobby, who works with the foundation.

“This year, we centered the theme around the children,” Hobby said. Join hands seemed like a natural fit, she said. “We really feel like the community is working well together.”

Ron Emerzian, a longtime board member, said the foundation started before the last recession, in an earlier lean time. “As budgets got shorter, all the enriching programs were being cut back,” he said. Then-county Superintendent Martin Petersen got him involved, a civic post he has kept for more than a decade.

The Emerzians share stories of students who blossomed in competitions, discovering talents and confidence, and a homeless student who graduated from college after seeing doors opened through academic contests.

“Participating meant she had role models, hope, expectations,” Hobby said.

“The foundation supports all these things – not only educational opportunities, but so much more,” Janice Emerzian said. She made her little people to tell those stories, warming hearts and, perhaps, opening a few wallets along the way.

This story was originally published July 18, 2015 at 5:32 PM with the headline "Paper forms dolled up to showcase Stanislaus County student events."