The Action Team in Pictures

The school year is winding down and the pilot year of the Action Team is drawing to a close as well. Although perhaps our most ambitious project is ahead of us (more about that in a moment), we find ourselves in a reflective mood. During our most recent session, we took time to revisit the original program goals to determine just how well they've been met. Of course, this being the Action Team, we found a creative way to share our conclusions . . . through drawing. Below are the goals, the drawings created, and the ideas shared.

(1) Action Team members will increase their knowledge, skills, and awareness of their personal power and how to use it to effect change in the school community.


"WIth our newfound personal power we feel like the world is now open to us and we have the ability to make positive changes in it."

(2) Team members will have a deeper understanding of their own racial and cultural identities and how to work with others of diverse backgrounds.


"We can now see other races within ourselves. The picture also represents the transfor-
mation that we feel."


(3) Team members will create a new guiding vision and way of being within the school.

"This picture represents the school embracing families. The rainbow represents our new vision. All of the ideas in the rainbow have been a part of our projects."

(4) Team members will develop action projects to build toward the new vision.



"The ground is the community. IMPACT and the school are the strong stem. The projects emanate from the stem, supported by the ground. The projects have been helping the school grow into a limitless, positive (smiling question marks) multicultural (all the different colors) future."





Final Project (for this school year)

Action Team members brainstormed several fantastic ideas for the next and final project of this school year. Some of the suggestions included creating a family resource center at the school, increasing the amount and quality of volunteer opportunities for parents, and outfitting the school building with multi-lingual signage. Although Team members intend to pursue each of these actions in the future, it was decided that the next project should be welcoming the 60 new students to Piney Branch who will be coming to the school for the 2010 - 2011 school year because of re-drawn school boundaries. This is a big and potentially high impact project. Check back with us soon to find out how the planning is going!