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The VISTA project has actually exceeded my expectations.
. It has helped us to do so many things that we never would have had time to do.
The site really benefits from it just because a lot of kids that don’t normally get their homework done
do now because they are coming to the after school program
And we’ve also planned some family nights.
During those family nights, we are providing dinner for our families
and then some type of parent and child education component.
I’m very excited that with all the enthusiasm that has been generated through these events
and the parents that have come out and been active in them
that hopefully this can continue for years to come.
I can definitely see that I’m making a difference
and I’m helping that parents who haven’t really been involved in something like this before.
And hopefully they will feel like the school is a much more welcoming place.
They will feel more comfortable coming and talking to the principal, talking to their children's teachers
It’s been a wonderful experience working with our two VISTAs this year.
They organize meetings for us to have, where the parents can come in
get involved and take initiative to help make the school better.
The parent workshops that we’ve done and the research that we’ve been able to offer to parents
give them a better sense of being able to provide for their families
and their needs while also making sure they have the time and the ability to get involved in their children’s education.
That’s what this is all really about.
Parent engagement and leadership is a critical aspect of the value of our school.
We’ve developed the parent resource room where we provide parents with a welcoming, inviting room
where they can also find resources and we have computers and other things that they can avail themselves to.
A lot of our ambitions and plans would not have been realized if it were not
not for the additional work that Stephanie put into our program and into our school.
The VISTAs have come with really good ideas, not only to get the parents involved, but to get the kids excited
They worked with pennies for patients and raised over $500 and we are a fairly small school.
They have helped us as teachers, they’ve helped the students
and I feel that they have helped our community grow together, getting families involved.
When I first started, the school did not have very many community partnerships.
Now we have about 113.
We have close to 100 steady parent volunteers that we did not have before.
Thanks to our VISTA worker here this year, we have a very solid core PTO.
We have very active parents who are willing to be involved in the school.
There’s a lot of new programs, specific programs for parents and kids.
We are really trying to get more and more people involved
and really get people to have fun while taking ownership of the school and the resource center and the community.
I have to say that our experience with the VISTA program has been absolutely fabulous.
Having the VISTAs was an amazing experience and I hope we have more next year.