FEATURES
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PTA serves vital role in community, many unaware of impact Public Relations Director
I
n Elementary School, the PTA (Parent Teacher Association) had such an obvious presence in our lives. Now, although we don’t see it, the PTA is constantly working to better the lives of all high school students, even if that takes shape in a less obvious manner. Most recently and notably in the high school, the PTA hosted the graduation party for the class of ’21. Although the pandemic adversely affected the PTA’s efforts, they remained committed to providing students with a celebration to remember. “Some of our events were curtailed, but we were able to host a graduation party with a DJ, raffle prizes, outdoor games, great food and even a mechanical bull,” Tami Benavav, Co-President of the PTA, and Claudia Shaum, a former PTA president, wrote. “After a year of very limited senior experiences, we were thrilled to be able to provide a more normal graduation
SENIOR PARTY The PTA organized a dance floor in the courtyard and provided a DJ, in addition to games, refreshments and activities.
GRADUATION DECOR The PTA decorated last year’s field graduation with flowers, balloons and school banners.
celebration for the class of ’21.” The PTA can also be thanked for the decorations for the 2020 outdoor, drive-through graduation. “Our partnership with the school administration was never more important than it has been during Covid,” Benavav and Shaum wrote. “We really felt like we were part of a team and that everyone was working to help our community make it through as best we could.” But the PTA does much more than throw parties. “We help make sure that
day-to-day questions get answered for parents, and [we] help the administration out in so many ways,” Benavav and Shaum wrote in an email. “The PTA presidents meet with Principal Thomas on a weekly basis to both stay informed about important happenings in the school as well as to provide insight into parent concerns.” More tangibly, the PTA also supports school events. “We help provide volunteers for things like Picture Day, Back to School Night and
handing out caps and gowns for the seniors; we often organize donations for beverages for field days and more,” Shaum and Benavav wrote. The PTAs in each individual school are subsets of the larger Westport PTA Council, consisting of an Executive Board, town-wide committee chairs and the PTA presidents from each school in the district. The PTA works hard as simultaneously a voice to the community and an organization constantly working to better the lives of students. “[The Council’s] goal,” Benavav and Shaum said, “is to coordinate and bring cohesiveness to [the committees’] efforts on behalf of all Westport students, and to assist them in bringing programs and opportunities, as well as lend support to their efforts in enhancing healthy and productive learning environments.”
POPCORN (left to right) Ruby Coleman ’21 and Maizy Boosin ’21 enjoy last year’s graduation party, hosted by the PTA.
Photos contributed by PTA
Graphics by Lily Caplan ’22
