Sunday, February 22, 2009

Volunteering Your Time

I would like to expand on Chrissie's last post about uniting the community through volunteerism. Volunteering our services to raise money is one way to contribute to education. Another way is to volunteer one's time directly in a school.

Last week the Shutterbug Club of Muskogee visited Benjamin Franklin Science Academy to donate a Cannon SureShot and to teach the students in the wildlife management class how to take nature photos. One way the camera will be used is to capture time lapsed photographs of the animals that frequent the outdoor classroom at the school. They have already tracked a bobcat that comes by every 48 days, according to BFSA teacher Julie Robinson, who received a grant that will tie the outdoor classroom to community gardening in Founders' Place Historical District, the neighborhood in which most of the school's students live.

Dr. David Jones, president of the Shutterbug Club, said that members regularly assist schools in photography education. They also sponsor community-based workshops, meetings and contests. There are about 38 members in the club. The Muskogee Phoenix just recently published the results of the Shutterbug's February photography contest. Who knows but that one of the middle school students in the wildlife management class might one day win 1st place in the photography contest because members of this club came to his/her school to teach photography and spurred a lifelong interest.

That's a picture that's worth more than a thousand words.
------Melony

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