CIS Welcomes New Volunteer Coordinator

With the New Year upon us, resolutions are at the forefront of many a mind!  Marketers are ready on the draw, and commercials abound for gym memberships, diet plans, smoking secession programs and the like – all for those resolved to become a healthier version of themselves in 2015.

Though these commercials may make it seem otherwise, all New Year’s goals are not necessarily fitness related.  Recent surveys have revealed a large number of individuals geared up to increase their education levels in the coming year. To the philanthropic end of goal-setting, a surprising number of people desire to give back to their community by volunteering more!

Communities In Schools is a great avenue to meet a goal such as this.   Recently, we welcomed a new Volunteer Coordinator for our Reading Partners program at Hiddenite and Taylorsville Elementary Schools.

April Oxentine joined us November 17th through NC Literacy Corps, and through her work with Reading Partners will be providing small group and one-on-one tutoring to 3rd graders at both sites. This tutoring, however, is not possible without volunteers.

Currently, we have 5 volunteers at Taylorsville (TES) and 8 volunteers at Hiddenite (HES). Both sites are always looking for more willing individuals to come read with these young learners. HES volunteers meet Mondays from 1:30-2:00 pm, and TES volunteers help on Wednesdays from 2:00-2:30 pm.

If you or someone you know would be interested in volunteering, please contact April Oxentine at 336-452-4367 for more information, or by email at aoxentine@alexander.k12.nc.us.

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CIS Advisory Board Hard at Work

The Communities In Schools Advisory Board met on Monday, November 3, 2014, discussing current and upcoming services for learners in Alexander County.  Each of the three site coordinators for Alexander were in attendance, and gave special mention to the growth of case-managed students currently being served.

[From Left to Right: (front) Brigette Rhyne, Macy Jones, Angie Yates, Jordyn Setzer, (back) Dr. Jennifer Hefner, Brittany Loudermilt, Kevin Mann, Chad Pennell, and Dr. Jeff Peal]

Currently, our Advisory Board meets once every three months, and is an offset of the CIS Wilkes Board Meeting that focuses only on the implementation of the CIS Model in Alexander County. During November’s meeting, staff and board members brainstormed ways to recruit additional representatives to serve, who to recruit, and the implementation of terms and policies.

As Communities In Schools is a nonprofit organization, special time and discussion was dedicated to additional sources of revenue.  Advisory members are always on the lookout for new or continued sources of funding, keeping CIS informed for appropriate.

If you or someone you know would be interested in donating monetarily or in kind to Communities In Schools, please contact Angie Yates at 828-409-0231, or Glendora Yarbrough at 336-651-7830 today!

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Rocking Red Ribbon Week

Along with our site coordinator Brittany Loudermilt, students at East Alexander Middle School participated again this year in the annual awareness campaign, Red Ribbon Week.  Held the last week in October, Red Ribbon Week is designed to educate participants, as well as the general public, on the violent and harmful nature of both drug use and the drug industry.

From Monday, October 27th, until Friday, October 31st, students at EAMS worked to promote awareness while learning new information themselves.  Learners worked to design public service posters, with a completed poster enabling a chance to win a gift card to Walmart!

In total, ten posters were submitted that truly conveyed convincing messages about staying drug free.  Our young artists implored that their peers chose to make a stand against drug use and continue to strive for greatness.

Communities In Schools also offered enrichment activities during the week.  Learners had enjoyed some friendly competition amongst the comradery: They were challenged to guess how many candies were in a jar, with the closest guesser receiving a Walmart gift card as well!

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Creating Safe and Supportive Learning Environments

If you are familiar with Communities In Schools, you may know that we believe all students are entitled to each of our Five Basics.  Specifically, we continually strive to ensure every learner we serve has access to:

1. A healthy start and healthy future
2. A one-on-one relationship with a caring adult
3. A marketable skill to use upon graduation
4. A chance to give back to their community, and
5. A safe place to learn and grow.

One of the basics we feel too often overlooked happens to be a safe learning environment.  As years progress, our youth are gaining increasing access to information, paraphernalia, and negative role models that threaten the safety of themselves and others.  Incidents of violence and drug use continue to increase, and – more disturbingly – become problems at younger and younger ages.

Today’s students face a world of challenges unfamiliar to generations prior.  In association with high risk behaviors, incidents of bullying continue to skyrocket, and the advent of social media has brought this troubling behavior out of the school and in to the homes of both victims and predators.  Many victims of bullying report missing school in order to avoid confrontation.

East Alexander Middle School (EAMS) has taken action to eradicate these behaviors.  On Friday, October 31, 2014, all members of the student body participated in a Bullying Survey.  Results of the survey were delivered directly to the principal.

Through this questionnaire, EAMS hopes to identify areas of need around the school campus: locations that need more reinforcement or supervision, appropriate preventative measures, and positive behavior award measures to foster kindness and discourage bullying.  Action will take place, and the survey will be repeated at the end of the year to document changes we are sure to be seeing.

If you would like to know more about Communities In Schools in Alexander County, or would be interested in donating your time, talents, or treasures to our great efforts, please contact Angie Yates at 828-409-0231.

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Out and About at the Apple Festival

As Communities In Schools (CIS) continues to expand and develop our presence in Alexander, we thrive on opportunities to interact with and get to know our community. We enjoyed one such occasion on October 18, 2014 – with our second year manning a booth at the Taylorsville Apple Festival.

The Apple Festival and events like it offer our staff and volunteers excellent opportunities to promote current Communities In Schools programing and services. Programs include Reading Partners, wherein carefully screened and trained tutors are matched with third graders to practice reading and comprehension skills.   For older area learners, we also offer Community of Friends Mentoring: which matches screened and trained mentors with students in sixth through eighth grade.  These mentoring pairs spend two to four hours each week together outside of school.

Public turnout was incredible during the festival this year, giving CIS a great chance to recruit willing and able volunteers for the above programs.  In total, 420 booths participated in the Apple Festival this year, with exponentially more community members stopping by to learn about out cause.  Those who stopped by had the chance to contribute monetarily this time as well:  our local Craftmaster donated a luxurious leather recliner to be sold via raffle.  Tickets sold for $1.00 a piece, or seven for $5.00.

We would like to extend a huge thank you to all the volunteers and staff who helped work the booth and make the day a huge success: Janeen Jones, Macy Jones, Susan Gantt, Mary Brown, Jason Evans, and the Alexander County CIS Team of Brittany Loudermilt, Jordyn Setzer and Angie Yates, all led by CIS Executive Director Glendora Yarbrough.

As always, we are in continual need for mentors and tutors as our offerings and waiting lists continue to grow.  If you or someone you know would be interested in volunteering, please contact Angie Yates at 828-409-0231.

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