Sydney Wagner ’26 was unaware of the favorable neuroscience behind crocheting when she took up her new hobby. After a soccer injury left her on the sidelines, she had time on her hands, and after a few attempts at other crafts she landed on crocheting. That was three years ago. Mostly self-taught, Sydney is even surprising her grandma with her newfound skills.

“Crocheting flows so I can just sit down and do it for hours,” she says. “It’s relaxing and relieves stress but is also rewarding. I like designing my own clothes and bringing them to life. It feels like a piece of you out there,” she says. Sydney’s favorite project to date is a dress she designed and created for her eighth-grade graduation. It took three months but was worth it.

Sydney hopes to start an official crochet club this year at Prep. She has cultivated quite an interest within the student body this year. Sydney has hosted several popular crochet meet ups in the library during lunch for 30- 40 people. On Community Day she ran two crochet seminars with 50 students, boys and girls. She says, “Many people weren’t familiar with crocheting before coming to Prep, but they tried it and stuck with it and now they are excited about something they didn’t even know existed two years ago.”

The crochet club will give students the opportunity to meet more frequently and learn together. Sydney says, “I have a lot of friends who are getting good at it and they can bring in things they are working on and share their knowledge. We can teach each other. Once people get the hang of crocheting it’s a great collaborative space.”

Last year the qualities of crochet were at the heart of her freshman election speech for class president. She won. This year with her reputation solidified as “the girl who crochets” Sydney based her speech on The Hunger Games, something she enjoys watching while crocheting. This fall she will be bringing her tribute qualities to her role as sophomore president.

This summer Sydney is working on many of the crochet orders that she didn’t have time to fulfill during the school year—in what she says is her lowkey side business. One of her favorite times to crochet is on a plane bound for vacation. “It’s a good conversation starter,” she says. “People come up to me all the time and ask what I’m doing.” But there is an added benefit. “By the time I get to my destination I have a new outfit,” she laughs.

To learn more about Sydney’s projects check out her Instagram account [@crochetalldaybysyd]. Fifteen percent of the proceeds of her sales are donated to Boyer Children’s Clinic which provides high-quality therapy and education programs to children.