February 16, 2009 Minutes

Hello, CHILD!

Britney was kind enough to jot notes for me last meeting. Here are the minutes from Monday, February 16.

We will have an optional meeting on Wednesday, February 25 to make posters for the book sale and for tee-shirts. The book lady may not be a possibility – Maggie hasn’t had luck contacting her, but it’s still an option. Dr. Matoush seemed to think that CHILD should get a profit from the book sale, but the nice lady might not come if that’s the case. Britney contacted someone about getting a room in Madison, which will be about $60 a night – so, if the lady comes, we will have a place for her to stay!

Morgan sent out information about the T-shirt sale – please see your e-mails about selling and buying shirts and contact Morgan if you have any questions.

Britney FINALLY heard back from the website guy – yay! She and I will work to fix the glitches and put all of the past minutes up for everyone to see – we will soon have everything in one place, hopefully, which will be wonderful!

Our next regular meeting is scheduled for March 11. Tiffany should have the materials for our book-binding project for everyone to work on. Our deadline is April, so we need to work together to get everything accomplished! We will!

Lastly, Britney is still working on the Smokey Mountain High School project. She will keep us updated.

Happy week, everyone!

April H.

February 4 Minutes

HEY, CHILD!

The first meeting of the Spring 2009 semester was held on February 4 at 5:30 pm. Britney opened the meeting with a discussion of the Smokey Mountain High School (SMHS) project. Though we are still trying to participate in this new and exciting program (see last minutes), Britney is having a hard time getting feedback from the administrators at SMHS. We will keep everyone updated as we acquire more information about the program.

Tiffany spoke about a great service opportunity that ALL CHILD members can be a part of! A first grade teacher at Fairview elementary needs some books put together for Fairview's Science Field Day. Everyone agreed that the books could be easily stitched in one meeting. Tiffany is in charge of getting the pages and the stitching materials - please come to the next meeting to help out! The teacher also said that Fairview will need volunteers for the Field Day, itself, but students from the methods classes will be largely invited to participate in that activity.

Maggie discussed a book sale that is very exciting for CHILD and for WCU. Maggie knows a nice woman in Morganton who sells children's books for HALF of the list price. She also sells damaged books that she has repaired for about $1 - $3 each. After much discussion, we decided that the best way to ensure a worthwhile trip to WCU for Maggie's contact is to rent a room in Maddison, the graduate dorm, and host a 2-day book show. The tentative dates for the show are March 19 and 20. We will need to get our guest a meal card and a temporary parking pass in addition to the room in Maddison. The book show will most likely be held in Killian 104 or in the Killian hallways. This is such an exciting opportunity - it is never too early to start a book collection for one's classroom or children!

Morgan, our resident artist, will bring in a tee-shirt design at our next meeting. She described two designs, and most members prefered a tee with CHILD on the front, upper left corner, and an inspirational quote with the word "CHILD" on the back. We hope to purchase the shirts from Simply T's - Morgan is now in charge of the tee-shirt project.

Britney also had dishartening news about the website. We still cannot use it, and our website man has all but disappeared! Maggie volunteered to try to fix the problems so that we can use the website for CHILD purposes. Yay, Maggie!

The meeting closed with a discussion of meeting times for the remainder of the semester. We plan to alternate Mondays and Wednesdays so that more people can stay involved. Our next meeting will be on Monday, February 16 at 5:15 p.m.

Have a happy semester, and I'll see you all soon!

April

December 4, 2008 Minutes

Hello, CHILD!

On December 4, 2008, CHILD members met in Killian 127 for our final meeting of the Fall 2008 semester. We discussed Britney O. and Rebekah B.’s Civic Engagement Project and other plans for the upcoming spring.

Britney and Rebekah completed a project in which they researched high school dropout rates, and, especially, the dropout impact on Sylva’s Smokey Mountain High School (SMHS). In the fast-approaching spring, we plan to extend the girls’ project through CHILD and work with high school students at SMHS after school to encourage them to stay in school and to pursue a college education. We hope to do a “college enhancement” kind of program to provide students with enrichment opportunities in addition to necessary tutoring and mentoring. Members suggested assisting students with résumés, college and scholarship applications, and other college and career readiness activities. We hope to meet the various needs of all of the students with whom we work so that our program becomes a wide-reaching asset to the local high school and the community.

Anyone interested in working with CHILD at SMHS will need to have a current background check. One member suggested the possibility of holding fundraisers to raise money to reimburse anyone committed to service for his or her background check. We are in hopes that Dr. Ruff may have more information on background checks, how to acquire them most easily, and how “current” the information must be for students to be allowed to work with youth in the school system.

Since the program will most likely take place after school, we must consider our supervision options and program expectations. Britney will work with other CHILD members to complete a written proposal including all of our hopes for the program as well as all of the necessary program components (supervision, funding, expectations, etc.) and carry that document with her when she meets with the SMHS vice principal this spring.

We will need supervisors, probably from Western Carolina University (WCU) and SMHS. A possible contact for SMHS is the guidance counselor, and instructors in the teacher education program at WCU should be more than willing to help us. We also HAVE to recruit more members or at least program participants to make this program work! This is going to be such a worthwhile endeavor—it’s up to us to make a difference in the lives of these young people! We were all in their shoes once upon a time.

Other meeting topics were meeting times for next semester and the Reynolds carnival for Relay for Life. If we work with the Honors College to conduct a carnival to raise money for Relay for Life, we need to make some decisions fairly soon. Be thinking about what kinds of games you might like to see, possibilities for raffles, and whether the event should be open to the community.

Please e-mail Britney (bdowenby1@catamount.wcu.edu) your spring schedules as soon as possible so that we can begin to plan meetings. Have a fabulous break and e-mail me (adhicks1@catamount.wcu.edu) with any questions, concerns, or updates!

Happy break,

April H.

October 16 Minutes and Updates

Hello, CHILD!

On October 16, 2008, CHILD members met for a social gathering at the Cat's Den at 7 pm. We discussed the upcoming CHILD events and getting a gift for John, our website guy.

The meeting opened with a brief discussion of the volunteer activities. The contact for the activities is now our co-president Kasey E. Tiffany P. and Kasey E. will be our representatives for Dr. Ruff's volunteer committee meetings.

Our first upcoming social event is TRUNK OR TREAT, hosted by Alpha Gamma Delta. TRUNK OR TREAT will be at the 2000 House in the Greek Village from 6 - 9 pm on Monday, October 27. Please see the e-mail about this event, and don't forget to bring candy even if you won't be able to volunteer!

The CHILD bake sale will be next week, as well. The bake sale will be in the Killian breezeway from 8 am - 4 pm on Thursday, October 3o. Please see the e-mail regarding what you are to bring, and if you did not sign up to bring anything, you still can!!! All goods should be delivered to the breezeway by 8 am on the 30th. If no CHILD member is present, please take your goods to Dr. Matoush's office in Killian 123. Co-President Britney O. will be getting the permit for the bake sale.

The third upcoming social event is the November 1 football game. Please come out for a fun CHILD evening and to support our football team!

We decided to get John a $25 gift card to Wal*Mart. We will sign the card from CHILD and Britney O. will deliver it to him. We are super grateful for his help!

Be sure to see Reida D.'s blog to see what time you volunteered to help with the bake sale and please, please, PLEASE check your e-mail to see the list of baked goods that members volunteered to bring and for Relay for Life information. If you did not recieve either e-mail, please contact me as soon as possible and I will forward the e-mails to you. My e-mail address is adhicks1@catamount.wcu.edu.

Thanks for all you do,

April H.

Game Night

Hello, CHILD! On Thursday, September 18 we met for Game Night, and it was definitely a good time. Britney opened the meeting with a welcome and Tiffany gave a quick overview of many of the service opportunities that we, CHILD members, will be a part of this year.

Tiffany provided a great handout with contact information, dates, and the titles of the programs that we plan to help out with. The organizations include: mentoring students in the Pre-College program, writing for the Women's Issues magazine, working in Hendersonville encouraging minority students to go to college, helping with an all-girls' robotics club at Cullowhee Valley Elementary School, participating in Peace Jam, and helping with the new Western Carolina University after-school program. Dr. Jamel Anderson-Ruff is helping us with these activities, so THANK YOU, Dr. Anderson-Ruff! Anyone interested in more information or volunteering with any of the programs, please contact Tiffany by e-mail (tbprickett1@catamount.wcu.edu).

Tiffany also briefly discussed Relay for Life and our team participation. The event is scheduled for April 17-18, 2009. We will need to think about establishing our own team this year, aside from the Fighting Octopi. Thanks for your help and dedication in the past, ladies.

Britney discussed our new webpage and pulled it up for all of us to see. It is fantastic, and we are very grateful to Mr. John for helping us out!

Please sign up to bring baked goods to the October 30 bake sale, and be sure to see Reida's post, outlining the volunteer schedule to work the event.

Also, remember that the Cullowhee Valley Fall Festival will be on Friday, September 26. I am sure that they would love to have as many volunteers as possible!

Remember to keep up with your service hours and report them at meetings. As Tiffany said, we love to hear what you're doing and your service counts towards your CHILD participation.

Our next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, October 2 at 6:30 p.m. Hope to see you there!

Thanks and have a lovely weekend,

April H.

Bake Sale information

Hello everyone! I found the bake sale information and just wanted to post it here so no one would forget when they are supposed to work the table.

Setup 8-9
Telicia D.
April H.
Christine W.

9-10
Amanda S.
Reida D. (will be there around 9:20)

10-11
Lauren P.
Reida D.

11-12
Whitney L.
Bridgette M.
Emily A.

12-1
Alisha S.
Reida D. (will have to leave @ 12:30 for class)

1-2
Tiffany P.
Amanda S.

2-3
Rebekah B.
Danielle P.
Britney O.

3-4
Bridgette M.
Danielle P.
Rebekah B.
Britney O.

If any of this is incorrect, please let us know and we will correct it. Also, by next meeting, please know what you can bring to the sale. Thanks!

RD

Update

Hello everyone! Our meeting this past Thursday was a success as we elected new officers and discussed the planned happenings for the semester. Please note that we have added an event to our calendar and that is on Sept. 26 at Cullowhee Valley's Fall Festival! If you can go that would be outstanding! If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to e-mail any of our new officers. Let's get ready for a great year!

New officers
Presidents: Britney O. and Kacey E.
Vice-Presidents: Lauren P. and Taylor F.
Secretary: April H.
Treasurers: Danielle P. and Bridgette M.
Attendance: Alisha S.
Publicity: Rebecca B., Emily A., Bridgette M. and Whitney L.
Historian: Christine W. and Amanda S.

Congratulations ladies! I know you will all do well. To those of you who I worked with over the past 2 years as President of CHILD, I would like to thank you all for your time and hard work. CHILD would not still be an active organization if it were not for you all. I look forward to participating in CHILD events this year and let's make it a wonderful year!


Loyally,
Reida D.