Student and Community Advocate

Student and Community Advocate Lauren Stuckey Grand Canyon University EDU-315: Family and Community in a Supportive Learning Environment Mrs. Alisson Armentano July 23, 2023

Link to video: https://www.loom.com/share/900365882e794{f8823ac80b7{62e6e0?sid=5aaf05ad-202a-41ee- 8b9e-12bb3bc2018e Transcript: Hello, my name is Lauren Stuckey, and I am currently a paraprofessional at Atkinson Elementary School. AES is for our 4", 5%, and 6™ graders that live in the Atkinson/Waynesville Area. Before we begin, I would like to take a minute and thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak with you all today. At the end of every year data is collected from every school. Each year for Atkinson is the same or has steadily increased in more students struggling. This past year AES has fallen to be one of the lower performing schools within our district. I believe this is due to the fact of being in a low-poverty county, and families not being able to afford school supplies needed along with enough food for their family. Just last year we had 25% of our students come to school without the school supplies needed and at least 45% of our students came to school hungry and looking for extras. When it was time for the weekend or a Holiday, you could see the dread and worry as they were unsure if they would have enough food until they came back to school. According to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, a child’s Physiological needs along with safety needs must be met before anything else. By having full stomachs and the supplies needed for school, a child can reach their full potential and soar in academic achievements. I believe that the increasing lack of supplies and children being hungry is why we now score so low. I have concluded that there are a couple of things that we can do to help get back on track. Back- to-School bashes where families can get supplies, and bookbags sent home with students in need filled with nutritional snacks and food. Nahunta already hosts a Back-to-School Bash; however, we need to host something on our side of the community for families that are not able to drive out to Nahunta. School supplies are expensive, but gas is even more outrageous these days, and the families need that to get to work to provide basic needs for their families. I propose we host one at Atkinson Elementary School, where we can use the gymnasium and playground. We can have companies from our side of town set up small booths for families to visit along with booths that have school supplies. The children will be able to play games and play on the playground. Waynesville Missionary Baptist does a fantastic job at providing bookbags for the weekends, however, I propose that we speak with Waynesville Church of God about helping donate bookbags and food as well. Both churches would alternate weeks and be responsible for two weeks out of each month. This way more food could be put into the bookbags, allowing our students in need to have the nutritional snacks and food to hold them over on the weekends and even on Holiday breaks, such as Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Spring Break.

Resources: Mcleod, S. (2023). Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory. Simply Psychology. https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html