This January was a wonderful month Communities In Schools of Tacoma! Our School Sites are thriving, our volunteers are amazing, we’ve had touching stories coming in from the Winter Wish Program, the Oral Health Drive is off to a great start, students are enjoying their enrichment programs, and we made a trip down to Olympia for some legislative action.
First up is Fern Hill Elementary where students are participating in our enrichment programs such as Hip Hop Dance, Drums Alive, Visual Art, and Mixed Sports! We also got to hear Temperance’s story of hard word and dedication in her All Star Reader Program that has brought up her Dibels Score by 49 percentage points!
Temperance has been hard at work! This outgoing second grader has made great progress over the past couple of months. Temperance was referred to All Star Readers because she struggles with reading and her teacher thought the extra tutoring might help. With mom on board, Temperance started ASR in October and was paired with longtime ASR volunteer Cathie Redzinak. Over the last few months not only has the duo built a wonderful relationship but Temperance has increased her Dibels score by a growth of 49 percentage points!
The success Temperance is experiencing is evident by her commitment to ASR and to her wonderful tutor.When asked why she liked All Star Reader she responded with this note: “because you teach me how to read and you are nice to students”
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Sherman Elementary Students have been having a blast during their Art Enrichment Class! We got a chance to stop in and participate with the students. They were all having a great time painting and who could blame them? It was a great time and our Volunteer Teacher Mrs. Han had the students excited about art! Mrs. Han is a first grade teacher at Sherman and is so creative and talented in order to keep the students engaged. We are so glad to have her volunteer in addition to teaching all day at Sherman!
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Baker Middle School has been busy! They partnered with Life Center Baker to put on a basketball camp for 6-9th grade students. Over 200 students attended and the kids and families loved it! Eric Boles, a premier motivational speaker came and shared a message about pushing themselves to excel and not give up on their dreams. There were many community volunteers that made this event possible including Head Coach Mark Lovelady from Life Christian Academy and his Varsity Basketball team!
We would also like to thank Alicia Mathurin who has been a key volunteer at Baker since the beginning of the school year.
She has dedicated over 100 hours to work with the students, staff, and parents to make a positive difference in the school. Thank you Alicia!
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Oakland High School, Mt. Tahoma, and CIS were represented at Legislative Day in Olympia, WA. Our students Aaron and Breanna got to tour the capital with our Executive Director Teresa Maxwell and Board Member Connie Ladenburg. They were able to speak one on one with some of their Representatives, shake hands, and get their pictures taken like celebrities! They both were able to share their personal success stories, and how CIS helps them and their schools.
Holiday Food Baskets
Our Oakland Site Coordinator Leigh also received a text from a student that was given help through the Holiday Food Basket Program and was connected to informational resources to assist in housing and internship opportunities.
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All in all January was a wonderful month for Communities In Schools here in Tacoma!