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Connect Canyons
Learning is about making connections, and we invite you to learn and connect with us. Connect Canyons is a show about what we teach in Canyons District, how we teach, and why. We get up close and personal with some of the people who make our schools great: students, teachers, principals, parents, and more. We meet national experts, too. And we spotlight the “connection makers” — personalities, programs and prospects — we find compelling and inspiring.
Connect Canyons
Ep 99: The Power of Volunteerism in Canyon School District
Here at Canyons School District, our community is rooted in the idea of helping each other. This year alone, more than 8,500 volunteers have lent a hand in classrooms and schools across the District.
In light of International Volunteer Day, the Connect Canyons crew sat down with two of the most generous volunteers in the District: Two Apex Award winners for Volunteer of the Year, Alta View Elementary’s Jessica Davies and Rebecca Martin, a frequent volunteer at Hillcrest High School.
“I just love the fact that I have been surrounded by such amazing people every time I've been in this school” says Davies. “Whether they're the adults at the school or the children or the other volunteers.”
Davies and Martin have donated a combined three decades in volunteer service for Canyons District. They share how they got started volunteering and the rewards they get from working with students and teachers alike. They also share advice for any parents or community members who may be interested in finding ways to support their neighborhood schools.
“It starts out when your children are little and you want to be in their classroom and help them with their math facts or whatever it is,” says Martin. “But as they get older, you realize it's not just your child. There's a whole classroom of children and a whole school of children and a district of children that need someone to advocate for them.”
Welcome to Connect Canyons, a podcast sponsored by Canyon School District. This is a show about what we teach, how we teach and why we get up close and personal with some of the people who make our schools great Students, teachers, principals, parents and more. We meet national experts, too. Learning is about making connections, so connect with us experts, too. Learning is about making connections, so connect with us here at Canyon School District.
Speaker 2:Our community is rooted in the idea of helping each other. This year alone, more than 8,500 people have volunteered across the district and we know Canyons runs because of their hard work. Welcome to Connect Canyons. I'm your host, Frances Cook. Today is International Volunteer Day, so to celebrate, we're sitting down with two of the most generous volunteers in the district this year's Apex Award-winning Volunteer of the Year, Jessica Davies, who volunteers her time at Altaview Elementary, and last year's Apex Volunteer of the Year, Rebecca Martin, who volunteers at Hillcrest High School. Thank you both for being here.
Speaker 3:Happy to be here.
Speaker 2:Now you both have children of your own. You're busy women in your own right, jessica. You're expecting another child, so congratulations on that, thank you. I would love to know what prompted you to start volunteering and how long have you been with the district, jessica, would you like?
Speaker 4:to start us off, yeah, I started volunteering when my kids were first in kindergarten and then I've just been volunteering since then. My oldest is 15 now, so I've been helping around the district for about 10 years and I love it. And, rebecca, you've been here a few more years than that I have.
Speaker 3:I started volunteering about 17 years ago when we moved into the district. My oldest was in second grade and started as a classroom volunteer and then progressed to school volunteer, pta president, school community council member. So they've aged through the district and now my youngest is a senior at Hillcrest High School. So I'm wrapping up my career as a volunteer in the schools.
Speaker 2:Senior at Hillcrest High School, so I'm wrapping up my career as a volunteer in the schools. Well, we're sad to hear that, but what a career it's been. You have both been champions for students and for education, from PTA Day on Capitol Hill. You've both run your school's community council. What is it that you're passionate about with public education and what keeps you coming back every day and volunteering?
Speaker 4:I started volunteering mostly just as a curiosity. I wanted to see what was going on in my children's classroom. I wanted to get to know the people at the school a little bit better, and then I've just been so impressed with everybody at the school. I love working with everyone that's there. I mean, I feel like the people who are involved in education are the best of the best. They tend to be the people who seem to care the most, and so I'm surrounded by people every day that are absolutely amazing.
Speaker 4:I saw a quote by Lily and Katz that talked about how the good life for our children can only be achieved if the good life is achieved for everybody else's children, and I realized that I have more time to give, and not every parent has an opportunity to give time, and so I felt like if the parents that do have opportunities to give their time volunteer in the school, then all of our children will be better off, and so that's really what's driven me to volunteer. I have the ability, I have the time, and it's so neat to see not just my children growing and learning, but seeing everybody else's children as well.
Speaker 2:That's beautiful.
Speaker 3:Like Jessica, I believe in advocating for all children, not just mine. It starts out when your children are little and you want to be in their classroom and help them with their math facts or whatever it is. But as they get older you realize it's not just your child. There's a whole classroom of children and a whole school of children and a district of children that need someone to advocate for them. Not every parent is able to or understands advocacy. That's become one of my favorite words now.
Speaker 3:Is that not just making the experience in schools positive for my child, but making sure that we are advocating for the needs of every child, for equitable outcomes, that students are getting the resources that they need in the classroom, whether that's talking to teachers and making sure students have access to materials or resources, chromebooks or technology. Talking to administrators, to the school district, to make sure that your school, that your faculty, has the resources that they need. And then talking to the state legislators. You mentioned Capitol Hill. That's one of my favorite places to go to talk to state legislators about how important our public education system is and that they need to trust our teachers and trust our administrators, that the boots on the ground, those people know what is best for the students and how we can make sure that every student is getting what they need so they can be successful. We want an educated population. Everyone deserves an education, and the best way I found is putting myself in the schools.
Speaker 2:I think that's really beautiful, Just that idea of maybe you get into it for being around your kid when they're young and helping with the classroom parties or what have you, but then just our entire community being able to grow together. I'd love to hear some of your biggest takeaways from volunteering, be it for you personally or things you've seen in the classroom that just make you go. Oh yeah, this is why we're here. This is why we do that.
Speaker 3:Some of my best friends have come from volunteering in schools with other like-minded parents.
Speaker 3:I've gotten to know other parents and grandparents that, as we're working together with this end goal in mind, with this opportunity to whether it's a class party or a team you're volunteering, you know, as a team parent, trying to help these students have a good experience.
Speaker 3:So I've benefited by making good friends and making connections with the students. I love getting to know the students and now that my son is a senior, I've seen many of these kids since they were in kindergarten, first grade together and they still see me in the halls and wave and say hi and making those connections with people as other adults and the other students and making all of the students feel welcome, that there's a friendly face when they come to school, that there's another caring adult. These children need as many caring adults in their life as possible and it's benefited me as I feel their energy and their excitement and their enthusiasm. You can't walk into a school and not feel that energy that's in those buildings, absolutely so I feel like I've taken away my own personal benefits of enthusiasm, energy, excitement and connecting with other adults and with other students energy, excitement and connecting with other adults and with other students.
Speaker 4:I just love the fact that I have been surrounded by such amazing people every time I've been in this school, whether they're the adults at the school or the children or the other volunteers. We have a lot of volunteers who come who don't have any connection to the school and they've just been drawn in because of the kids that are at the school. And we have a few ladies that are retired that come every single day and one of them drives half an hour a day to come to our school and spend time with our children. And when you see that type of dedication and you see these children every day and you see them lighting up and learning things and getting to know them all on an individual level, it's just so rewarding and I feel like for me it hasn't just been me spending my time helping other people, but for me I've been more enriched than I think I've been able to give back, so it's really been rewarding for me to be at the school.
Speaker 2:You mentioned people who may not have a connection to the school. Their kids may not go there, maybe they just live in the neighborhood. You two have donated hundreds of hours to schools, but not every parent has to do that. Right, when we hear a volunteer, that doesn't necessarily mean it has to be, you know, 365, 24-7. What are some of the ways you've volunteered that maybe other parents or even community members are thinking about volunteering that they might be interested in helping out with?
Speaker 3:I know that schools are always looking for donations, so if you don't have the time, perhaps you have the money to donate to classrooms, to schools, to fundraisers, to clubs or teams. There's not enough money in education, as much as we would like to think that we've got all the money in the world. We can always use more money, Everything from, for example, parent-teacher conferences, the PTA in our school maybe other schools do it differently but our PTA provides a meal for the teachers to eat between their teaching all day long at school, and then they have to stay till 7 pm and meet with parents. We provide a meal for them and we like to make it accessible for all parents. You can either make a monetary donation or you can drop off some tortilla chips or sour cream or a crock pot of soup. So whatever level of time or money or resources that you can give, there's always a need. We can make a match somewhere.
Speaker 4:The thing that's great about volunteering in the schools is there are so many different opportunities and it doesn't always have to be spending your time to come into the school. There are things that you can do outside of the school, whether that's talking to your student's teacher to see if there are projects you can do, cutting up papers, getting things ready for the teachers within the classroom. You can use your talents, things that you're interested in. You can help with social media. You can take pictures at different activities.
Speaker 4:So if you're interested at all, I would say, reach out to your PTA or reach out to your teacher and see what the needs are at the school. Also, if you have small children, that doesn't necessarily mean that you can't bring them into the school and volunteer as well. We have a lot of parents that will bring their children with them and help volunteer, and there are so many different ways and different capacities and things that you might not even think of, or you may have ideas that the school hasn't thought of, and if you mention your talents or things that you would like to do, they may be able to find a use for it. So I would say the biggest thing is just reaching out and seeing what the needs are and helping at any capacity that you can.
Speaker 2:That's really great teacher conferences, because that is such a long day, or that you could bring your kids to volunteer with you and you know, kind of even share why it's important to give your time and things. That's really awesome. You know it's the season of giving and the season of giving thanks. I'm curious do you guys have a message for any other parents or volunteers, or for your students, for any other?
Speaker 3:parents or volunteers or for your students. I am most grateful for my teachers of my students. When I'm in the school and I'm working there for a short space of time and then I can leave again, I think these teachers are putting in so much time, they care so much, they're working far beyond the hours that they're getting paid for. They're using their own personal resources for prizes or incentives and I'm just very grateful that there are good teachers out there willing to work with our children, willing to be dedicated to help them achieve their potential. So I'm most grateful for teachers, absolutely.
Speaker 4:And adding to that, I would say, all the other wonderful people that work at the school Behind the scenes, that parents might not even realize are there, school behind the scenes that parents might not even realize are there. For each teacher that's there, there are probably two or three other employees and it's amazing to see how much they care about the students as well and how much they work to get to know them on an individual basis and are there for them.
Speaker 2:I think that's a really great point For every person that you see, there's probably 10 more behind the scenes that you're not aware of and, like you said earlier, you can feel that palpable energy when you walk into a school. I'd like to just thank you both for all the hard work that you've done over the years for students, for teachers, for our schools, and we know that you volunteer your time and you don't have to be here and you don't have to volunteer with us. So thank you, it's a pleasure, glad to be here and thank you for listening. If there's a topic you'd like to hear discussed, send us an email to communications at canyonsdistrictorg.
Speaker 1:Thanks for listening to this episode of Connect Canyons. Connect with us on Twitter, facebook or Instagram at Canyons District or on our website, canyonsdistrictorg.
