Community Service in Education

Student PSEA’s four pillars include Professional Development, Community Service, Leadership and Membership Development, and Political Action and Advocacy. All of these are represented at the Student PSEA Conference and Convention.

Each year, Outreach to Teach and the food bank drive for the Harrisburg Downtown Daily Bread “Food Plus” program highlight the Community Service pillar at the conference.

Downtown Daily Bread Food Bank Drive

The food bank drive is a chapter competition to see who can bring the most “high need” items to donate to the Harrisburg Downtown Daily Bread “Food Plus” program.

Here are some details about this cause, from the organization:

“Downtown Daily Bread (DDB) is an emergency kitchen which provides a nourishing, hot meal for the poor and homeless of downtown Harrisburg. This is done at no cost to the recipient. The simple, but nutritious food is served from 12:30-1:30 p.m. daily, including weekends and holidays.

DDB operates under the philosophical belief that all human beings are created equally. Men, women, and children of all races, religions, ethnic backgrounds and socioeconomic levels deserve to have their basic human needs met. All human beings should have access to food, shelter, and clothing. DDB strives to feed the hungry and provide basic human services for the poor and homeless.

DDB believes that people deserve second chances and the opportunity to change. Mistakes made in one’s life do not have to negatively impact a person’s chance for future livelihood and independence. DDB offers an outstretched arm to those in need and to those suffering from mental illness, drug and alcohol addiction, and prior legal offenses. Opportunity to rise above past offenses, situations, and personal issues are inherent in the services DDB provides.”

Our act of kindness goes a long way for these people. Sometimes we forget that we are so fortunate to be going to school and getting a college education. While we may not have money to buy the things we WANT, others are suffering because they don’t even have enough money to buy the things they NEED, like food or items to bathe, like shampoo and soap.

This year, we are asking that conference attendees bring their complimentary items from the hotel to the conference, so that we can donate them to Downtown Daily Bread.

These include shampoos, soaps, conditioner, etc.

“No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” – Aesop

Outreach to Teach

Outreach to Teach is our most anticipated event at conference! We plan for over a year, picking a school in an area close to the location of the state conference. We meet with the principal(s) and superintendent(s). We take a walk through of the school a few times to gage projects and get ideas for areas to beautify and refurbish. We calculate the cost of materials and apply for grants to help fund the project. A lot of hard work and effort goes into making this amazing community service project happen and it couldn’t be done without the work of the Outreach to Teach Subcommittee!

Meet your 2016-2017 Student PSEA Outreach to Teach Subcommittee!

Sam Nagel – State Secretary

Maria Wittman – State Vice President

 Marie Hutchings – State President-Elect

These three leaders have worked so hard to create projects, develop supply lists, and estimate costs to apply for grants. Without their strong servant leadership skills and dedication, we could not have pulled off this project!

At Cornell School District, grades K-12 are located on one campus in Coraopolis with separate wings for elementary and secondary instruction. Approximately 675 students attend kindergarten through grade 12. This school has been partially updated over the years.

Our main projects this year include repainting the entire auditorium, and the elementary and junior high hallways. We have completed one prep day to paint half of the junior high hallway. We are planning a second day to prep the elementary hallway. The difficulty with the walls in this school are that the blocks have deep crevasses. This makes it difficult and time consuming to paint the walls. It also makes it difficult to paint murals. This year’s project will be focused less on detail and more on covering large areas. Below are pictures that show different areas that we will be beautifying as well as a before and during picture of the junior high hallway from our first prep day!

Junior High Hallway Before

During Prep Day (painted over halfway down the wall

to prepare for royal blue paint on the bottom.

 Walls will have this design once finished

Elementary Library (mural)

 Murals for the walls in the nurses office

 

Large Auditorium

 

 Brick walls with deep crevasses

Along with these projects, there will be other miscellaneous projects. A list of projects can be found under Outreach to Teach information on www.psea.org/studentconference. When registering for the 2017 Student PSEA Conference and Convention, you will be able to choose one of the project teams to be on. Each project is unique and important! The faculty and superintendent are so excited to see the finished product.

Community service is such a great way to show others how much we care about education and students. I hope you are just as excited about this project as we are! I can’t wait to see how we all show our servant leadership skills at this year’s Outreach to Teach project.

Don’t forget your items for the food bank drive and I’ll see you in Pittsburgh, where we will build bridges today for tomorrow’s leaders!

  

Shelby Pepmeyer

State President