Businesses, community partners plus individuals Wanted
(Seguin) – The Seguin ISD is looking to not only get one or two, but all of its campuses adopted by a community organization or business this upcoming school year. Unfortunately last year, there were campuses who were not community supported through the Adopt-A-School program.
This year, however, the Seguin Education Foundation is utilizing the summer to get a jumpstart in securing these community partners for each of their campuses. That’s according to Kelly Follis, Seguin ISD director of community outreach and the Seguin Education Foundation.
“Adopt-A-School is a program that we have had in place for a couple of years and it’s really starting to take hold. Our schools love it. It’s really just getting the public involved in our schools and that can look like so many different things depending on what the business or the individual even wants to do but Adopt-A-School means just regular contact with the school so you kind of get to know the school and regular contact can be once a week as a mentor. It can be once a month as bringing snacks or breakfast to teachers. It’s defined by the person or organization that wants to participate and it’s just for people who want to make a difference in our schools,” said Follis.
Follis says her ideal wish would be to have each school adopted by at least 10 businesses. Last year, most campuses were adopted by at least one business but schools like Rodriguez Elementary had none.
While much of that lied on the fact that the Adopt-A-School program is still a relatively new concept for the Seguin ISD, Follis is optimistic that this year will be different and encourages everyone to step up and support their campus or campuses of choice.
“Not all of our schools are adopted at all and it really takes sort of a village of adoption partners anyway because most of our schools have at least one adopter but one person or one organization can’t be there as much as they might like and so if we have several for each school, but at least one, it would really really help because I think as successful as this program has been and as happy as this program has made so many of our faculty and staff and students, it makes the one who don’t have anyone feel really bad so we don’t want that and I know that our community does not want that. I know our community wants to be part of our schools. We are doing great things,” said Follis.
Last school year, Seguin ISD teachers and students were treated to snack baskets, catered lunches, snow cones and even some in class volunteers. She says the list of ways an adopter can support students is limitless.
“It could be just as simple as speaking at a career fair. It could be volunteering for a campus cleanup day — just anything — anything that gets our community into our schools is what we are really trying to push but through Adopt A School, like I said, it’s more regular contact with a school and it just makes them feel so loved and those teachers know that someone cares about them and has their back. It’s a really huge blessing,” said Follis.
Follis says most people she speaks with want to help, but, again, don’t always know how.
“Door prizes are always like number one on the list. As far as getting door prizes for campuses, when they do a family engagement night, they want to have a drawing for a door prize. Well, I don’t have a closet of door prizes. I don’t have things that I hold onto. Everything I have is out to campuses immediately as directed by the person if it’s going to me or a person can go right to the campus, it doesn’t matter. We have a mentoring program that is just rewarding for people to mentor a student. It’s not about tutoring them or instructing them. It’s just about being a listening ear and a supportive person for a student. We have tutoring also if groups want to do that. We have one group who adopted Seguin High School and they help with testing. So, there are so many ways that you can help,” said Follis.
Almost all adopters have returned for the 2023-24 academic year. In fact, Follis says many businesses and groups have already begun work to ensure the launch of another successful school year.
“We already have adopters that are working on gathering school supplies for different schools — different campuses who have already heard from parents that are saying ‘we don’t have enough. What are we going to do?’ So, these adopters are already stepping up to start having school supply drives to pack backpacks — all those kinds of things. For in-service days for teachers which start so soon — our new teachers come back on July 31 so it’s just right around the corner. We actually have our new teacher breakfast, which is two days of orientation for new teachers, we have those breakfasts already fully sponsored thankfully because people want to show them that they are welcome in Seguin. We are very blessed by that but there are tons of other opportunities to sponsor throughout the year,” said Follis.
Signing up to Adopt-A-School also has its benefits for those who give up their time and resources. Follis says this is especially true for businesses. She says partners have noted how much they have liked interacting with campus administrators and teachers, while getting to know their adopted family and receiving publicity for their organization, if desired.
“Whatever your mind can dream up as a way to help us, we are happy to receive that, and we definitely want to recognize the businesses and individuals who help us, and we want to help them. We have a large market of consumers in our teachers and families. We want to bring attention to the good things that people are doing for us and then we want to do good things for people too. It’s a win-win situation,” said Follis.
Follis says at the end of the day, supporting local education is everyone’s responsibility.
“If you are not in the schools, people just don’t know. You don’t know what’s going on. We’ve heard about schools. I hear complaints about schools around the state and country where people don’t feel like they are not welcome at the schools. The schools are doing things and the public does not know what’s going on. That is not the case in Seguin. We want everyone to come into our schools and see the great things that we are doing,” said Follis.
Adoption partners who wish to only donate in-kind or monetary donations are also encouraged to sign-up.
To become an Adoption Partner for Seguin ISD schools contact Follis at 830-379-0325 or email her at kfollis@seguin.k12.tx.us.
A list of the campuses and their current adoption partners can be viewed in today’s online edition of the Seguin Daily News (SDN). Again, the Seguin ISD is hoping for as many partners per school as possible. The SDN is available at SeguinToday.com