Hundreds of NEA Members Give Back to Atlanta Community
By Amy Jordan
One hundred percent of the students at Thomasville Heights Elementary School receive free or reduced lunch.”Free and reduced is how they eat, not how they learn,” said Cynthia Jewell, principal of the Atlanta, Georgia school. That’s why Jewell has spent the last year trying to connect with the community and turn Thomasville around. Her mantra? “A New Year, A New Attitude, A New Thomasville.”
To help with that “new Thomasville,” hundreds of future, current and retired educators spent the day remodeling the school for the 2013 Outreach to Teach community service project. The young students will return to a school this fall with new murals, inspirational bulletin boards, nice landscaping, fresh paint, an outdoor classroom space, new parent center and more.
“The area we are in is hard. There are struggles here. But to have a refuge that is bright and welcoming will help them to learn,” said Angel Morgan, the school secretary at Thomasville.
Every year during the NEA’s Annual Meeting and Representative Assembly the NEA Student Program selects a school in need in the host city and teams up with NEA-Retired for the community service project.
“We get such strong support for this annual service project because our members understand the importance of
To help with that “new Thomasville,” hundreds of future, current and retired educators spent the day remodeling the school for the 2013 Outreach to Teach community service project. The young students will return to a school this fall with new murals, inspirational bulletin boards, nice landscaping, fresh paint, an outdoor classroom space, new parent center and more.
“The area we are in is hard. There are struggles here. But to have a refuge that is bright and welcoming will help them to learn,” said Angel Morgan, the school secretary at Thomasville.
Every year during the NEA’s Annual Meeting and Representative Assembly the NEA Student Program selects a school in need in the host city and teams up with NEA-Retired for the community service project.
“We get such strong support for this annual service project because our members understand the importance of
