Philanthropy Team Update

The Philanthropy team is still pushing forward with the motivation to get enough money raised for the playground, which will be built for the Friendship Home here in Lincoln.

Currently the Philanthropy team is getting ready for a fund raiser, which is a “dress down day” for local businesses. In order to participate in the “dress down day”, employees will have to pay $5 to “dress down” on November 4th. All of the proceeds will go towards building the playground.

The philanthropy team has been split into two teams; one the advertising team and the other the calling team. The advertising team is working on literature which can be given to businesses to promote this “dress down day” and the calling team is working on calling 28 businesses throughout Lincoln with the hopes of getting them to participate.

Second, the team is working on getting a presentation put together so when they are asked what they do they will be prepared to share. Ultimately, they would like to share what they are doing with all of the other leadership teams and potential public crowds.

I have been very pleased to see all the students working together to make this project a success. They are all excited about building the playground! Along with being a part of the team, each student is learning how he/she can use the special skills that God has gifted each of them with. I can’t wait to see what happens in the end.

6-8th Grade Girls Impact Journals

"What is one thing God helped me do lately,

that I didn't have to do,

which showed kindness or sacrificial love to others?"

Today I helped Rhonda and her sisters get their younger 1’s inside and when Rhonda (the youngest) came out I picked her up and kept her warm in my coat. I could tell that Rhonda and her sisters were glad cuz of the smiles on their faces. I felt glad too cuz I was trying to help their younger sister not catch a cold.

Javaen




What I did this week to show sacrificial love was yesterday my friend Alyson called me because she wanted to take me to some pumpkin patch/haunted house place and I really wanted to go but I told her no because I wanted to spend time with my older sister because it was her Birthday.

C.C.





My baby sister and I were running around the house and apparently she had cheerios in a little bowl and she turned around and ran to the bathroom door and poured cheerios on the floor and my mom ran out and saw what she did and my mom was mad and I told her that I would clean it up instead of her cleaning it up all the time.

Jasmine

Impact Goals

During the first part of the class time on Sunday the 6-8^th grade girls worked on setting impact goals for the week. Each girl got right to work; they were all very quiet and respectful as they let each other work.

When the time was up Mrs. Miriam asked if the girls would share their goal for the week. The room was quiet and there were only a few who offered to share.

Emilia- “On Wednesday I will help my friend with her math homework.”

Jocelyn- “I will help my friend with her problem in school.”

Javaen- ‘I will apologize for the way I acted to teachers and authorities’ on Wednesday when I go back to school.”

I am always eager to hear goals the students are setting for the week, and I was glad at least a few were willing to share.

Mrs. Miriam used the end of sharing time as an opportunity to do a little “teaching”. She pointed out that there were not too many ladies who were willing to share. She said that she would never force anyone to share, but really encouraged the ladies to share. Mrs. Miriam said they should be proud to share their goals because it will encourage other students. Mrs. Miriam also explained that some of the others may have a hard time knowing what it looks like to show sacrificial love to others and when you share your goal they might get ideas of how they can show sacrificial love to others.

I was really glad that Mrs. Miriam took the time to do a little “teaching” and did not let the opportunity slip by. I really think more of the girls will share next time!

Speaking Team

The Speaking Team started this year with a new project. The first week the students were involved in reading the skeleton of a story, the second week they learned what it would look like to add in lots of details, and the third week (which is the week I witnessed) they worked on telling the story they had written, using lots of expression and motions! The looks on their faces seemed to say, “Now how do you suppose we’re going to do that?”

In preparation for the task at hand, the students played a game. Mr. Ty (Speaking Team Leader) asked one student at a time to come up in front of the class. He showed them a phrase or word and the student would have to try (without words) only using gestures and facial expressions, to get the others to guess what the word/phrase was. Each student took a turn and did very well.

When the game was finished Mr. Ty passed out each student’s story, and informed them they would need to break up into groups to practice telling their stories, while adding in what they had learned from each week.

I had the opportunity to partner up with Zach and was very pleased at the effort he was showing to add in facial expressions and gestures. Zach did a great job and seemed to be excited to be the first to get up in front of the students to tell his story. After each student presented their story the rest of the students had the opportunity to give positive and corrective feed back to each other. The students were very respectful and gave great feed back.

All in all, it was a great night to sit in on the Speaking Team. They have a great group of students who are learning so much. After the students had left I was talking to Mr. Ty and we were agreeing that the students had come a long way from just a few months ago, especially of the new students who just joined the team in August. We also talked about how important it is to learn to speak in front of people and most times it can be hardest to speak in front of peers. The students involved in the speaking team are learning a skill they will be able to take with them forever.

6-8th Grade Boys Jump Right Back Into the Swing of Things

ILA started again on Sunday after a 3 week break. Often after breaks it can be hard to pick up where we left off and students can be a little rowdy, but this was not the case on Sunday. I had the opportunity to sit in on classrooms and observe the events of the evening and could not have been more blessed with the outcome.

I was hoping I could catch the 6-8th grade boys Impact Journal time and when I walked into the class room I was just in time. All the students were sitting quietly with heads bowed and Mr. Todd was just finishing up praying for the evening. (I really appreciate how Mr. Todd has a way of teaching principles; what I mean is, Mr. Todd was talking to God through prayer and asking that he would guide the students as they write in their Impact Journals.) God tells us to pray on all occasions and I have found that praying for something right before I do it makes a big difference in how I perform.

The students split into two small groups and I joined up with Mr. Brandon (6-8^th grade boys leader), Kenneth, Cameron and Zach. The boys had the opportunity to begin writing in their Journals starting with their goals. I was just so amazed to see how these boys reacted by getting right to business writing. They were sitting so quietly and concentrating on what they were doing, they were especially respectful of each others time and did not talk. When it came time to share, once again the boys did not hesitate. Cameron was the first to share and began by telling us that his goal was to help decorate for his sisters birthday party on Saturday, Zach said he was going to help a friend all week at practice “practice catching” because they are on the same football team, and Kenneth was going to clean his room and keep it clean for 2 weeks! Each boy seemed to be excited to share what they had set as a goal for the week, and I could not be more excited to experience their participation.