President’s Monthly Musings: “The Power of Principled Parents”

From PTA President Keisha Green

Wow! As I reflect upon the Healthy Choice Marathon and this past weekend’s events, I realize what has materialized is an awesome display of our parents’ commitment to the betterment of our children. Many of you deserve a hand!

“Run Club” had a hard time getting off and running, literally. The primary purpose of the club is to have the children train prior to the 5K. However, their taking part has a multitude of rewards. Please join me in thanking Fraley Marshall for taking on the challenge of leading this effort, for helping our children build their enthusiasm for the race, for enlightening them on the importance of cheering on their fellow schoolmates and for increasing their camaraderie and JYJ spirit.

Any of you fortunate enough to witness Shawn Winstead’s cheers and high kicks in the lobby understand that her passion for the classroom challenge was palpable. Arinn Widmayer led our overall fundraising efforts for the 5k. The numbers are still incomplete, but we have at least reached our goal of raising $20,000 for PTA programs!

And who among us has not been exposed to the talent of Kelli Gracely? She contributed her priceless designs to the race. The t-shirts and posters were OUTSTANDING! Additionally, Kate Sonawane continued to lend her time and talent towards Healthy Choice. And the daunting task of race logistics fell to Joe Nuss, who executed flawlessly.

While the culmination of our healthy choice events was the grand finale of our weekend, there was another huge familial undertaking this past weekend. Odyssey of the Mind is completely parent run, and we are hugely fortunate to have many parents willing to act as coaches, judges and coordinators. VonGretchen Pough and Andrew Jones took on the Herculean task of forming our teams and organizing participation. Coaches not only lead their teams for several months, but they opened their homes and utilized their personal resources to promote our children’s creativity and innovation. And, we have TWO teams headed to state! We applaud each and every one of you!

While it’s impossible to name them all, we are truly fortunate to have parents AND grandparents like ours. We work as a collective body to address the physical, emotional, and intellectual needs of our children. Our “family” is strongly principled and progressive, and it shows in our accomplishments!

At the end of the day, the most overwhelming key to a child’s success is the positive involvement of parents.
– Jane D. Hull

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