President's Blog - “Keeping Kids in School-Every Age, Every Stage”

 

Last November our League voted on an Issue Based Community Impact Statement,

also know as IBCI. IBCI is a fancy way of saying “this is the issue we are focusing on

as a League.”  After an extensive amount of research into community needs, it was

found that keeping kids in school is a huge need in the City of Midland. Many people

hear the phrase “Keeping Kids in School” and think of merely addressing the

problem of the high-school student dropout rate. This couldn’t be further from the

truth. The campaign to keep kids in school starts before kids even begin school.

Research has shown that young children who are granted access to books and have

strong literacy skills are more likely to graduate. Research has also shown that the

self-esteem level a teenage girl has determines her likelihood of graduating. Girls

with higher levels of self-esteem are more likely to graduate than girls with low self-

esteem. It has also been shown that students who have access to scholarships,

grants, and training programs are more likely to continue their education after high

school by either going to a vocational school or college. Our IBCI “Keeping Kids in

School-Every Age, Every Stage” demonstrates the knowledge that we must begin the

campaign to keep kids in school when children are young and continue to educate in

different areas as they grow.

 

Within our issue  “Keeping Kids in School-Every Age, Every Stage” we will focus on

three different areas to encourage student success: literacy, college/career

preparedness and self-esteem. Every one of our community projects fits in one of

these areas. Reading Olympics addresses the issue of early childhood literacy.

Scholarship Clearinghouse fits under college/career preparedness. Kids First,

HopeWorks, Journey Summer Camp, Face the Race, Kids in the Kitchen and Suits

with Skills all fall under the area of self-esteem. You may be asking your self, “How

does Suits with Skills fall under the issue of self-esteem?” The answer is this:

empowering our Suits with Skills participants has a positive affect on their children.

If your parent is more stable in their surroundings and has higher self-esteem the

children reap the benefits. Our Volunteers in Midland project addresses all three

areas in different ways, depending upon the projects that are chosen. If you think

about it, these areas cross over one another. A child who attends Reading Olympics

and advances their literacy skills has a boost in self-esteem in the classroom. A

student who meets with a Scholarship Clearinghouse mentor to find the perfect

scholarship to apply for or learns how to apply for a grant also gets a boost of self-

esteem and feels empowered to continue their education. A Face the Race

participant whose self-esteem has been increased by attending the program also

gets the benefit of college/career preparedness when guest speakers come in and

talk to them about looking toward the future and educates them on the benefits of

 

Our issue is new to our League and to the community. One of our goals for this year

is to educate everyone about our issue. We truly do believe it is a campaign to keep

kids in school, and all campaigns need support!  We will use training sessions during

meetings and social media to accomplish our goal of educating our members and the

community about our issue. Please follow us on all of our social media platforms 

(Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, our blog and Pinterest). We will be posting articles,

blogs, and information that will give parents and community members the tools

needed to succeed in keeping our kids in school at every stage of development. Join

us as we endeavor to make Midland a place where every child has the ability to find

their spark and realize what they can achieve through education!