by Stephanie Linton
Oquirrh Hills Community Learning Center Coordinator
Every year Oquirrh Hills hosts its annual Halloween Carnival for students and families. While this is an annual event, this year was just a little bit different. On the surface things looked as usual–fishing pond, cake walk, spook alley–but behind the scenes there was much more collaboration.
This event is sponsored by our PTA. Our PTA President, Dani Havili, did a fantastic job putting it all together and everyone was more than willing to lend support and offer services. The Boys & Girls Clubs of South Valley put together the super popular spook alley and Torch Club (a student leadership program) made rice crispy treats. Kearns Jr. High students, who normally volunteer after school, jumped in to hang up decorations, and a total of 25 teachers and faculty signed up to hand out candy and run activities while our Community Learning Center Partners took over the Library. Community Nursing Services kept busy by giving a total of 109 flu shots, Washington Federal and Jr. Achievement signed up students for savings accounts, and English Skills Learning Center spread the word about free classes. Even Spike, the giant flu bug was there to take pictures with students. This event brought in 196 adults, 343 children, and 44 teens, a number which the PTA was willing to count for future baseline data to calculate parent involvement. That is a total of 583 attendees, 25 faculty and teachers, 9 after-school staff and volunteers, 10 PTA volunteers and 12 partner agency staff coming together for one night!
***UWSL’s Oquirrh Hills Elementary Community Learning Center is working to increase reading and financial literacy and help fight against childhood obesity, among other issues, to help develop healthier families. The center serves over 150 students.***
