Recently I noticed the following Walmart ad:
Schools are incredible assets to their communities. I just think about our middle school with 800 students, we make a difference every day. Each month our staff and students contribute to the larger community around us. Since school started our students have: raised money for fire victims, collected food and clothing for the poor, completed highway clean ups and raised funds for those in need. All of these efforts come from formal school activities run by student council or National Junior Honor Society.
There are non-formal activities going on in our school that make a difference. Students have taken on voluntary jobs to help out in the school office or in classrooms. Teachers show up early, give up lunch or stay late to help students with academic or personal needs. Every day schools make a difference, yet few of these stories show up on the news.
Schools do so much more than academics, they teach students to be positive contributors to society. Students are often introduced to the ideas of philanthropy in schools. Schools need to be celebrated for all they contribute to our communities! Our government repeatedly spends tax dollars to make us feel good about the programs it provides. It might be time to spend some of this money to show all the incredible things our schools are doing!
If Walmart can do it why can’t the State of Michigan or the US Department of Education? One outlet that does a great job doing this is the School News Network out of Kent County Michigan. Maybe this network should be state wide!
Sweat to Inspire 