B Y: C AT I F L O R Y G I L M E R H I G H S C H O O L A G R I C U LT U R E S C I E N C E T E A C H E R
EXECUTING
A CHAPTER COMMUNITY SERVICE PROJECT PART I - THE PLANNING PROCESS
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lanning and completing a community service project requires time, effort, and commitment. All of our chapter service planning begins at our officer retreat each summer, where our students plan the year’s activities and events. Our advisors begin by asking about needs they see in the community. One of the first groups our officers were excited to serve was their former elementary school teachers; resulting in the “Helping Our Day Ones” activity. The primary focus was giving back to the teachers who helped shape our members into the young men and women they are today.
After discussing the options given to use by the principals, it was determined the best way our members could help was to help teachers decorate their classrooms and to move in school supplies for the 2019-2020 school year. Next, the officers were in charge of securing a date for the service activity to take place. On the day teachers came back from summer
From there, an officer volunteered to be in charge of the service event and called our elementary school principal to see what we could do to help the teachers. Once we contacted GES and determined what we could help with, our officers met with our chapter’s citizenship committee to determine when and how the project would take place. 14
vacation, an army of Gilmer FFA members were waiting for them, ready to serve by helping get their classrooms ready for their students. Our members loved getting the opportunity to reconnect with their elementary teachers, who had done so much for them when they attended Gilmer Elementary School. It was also a great way for our members to make connections with our new teachers and explain to them what our chapter is about. It