SkillsUSA team volunteers to help parents

Posted 4/6/23

The SkillsUSA Education and Training students at Powell High School have been lending a hand to local parents since the beginning of this school year. 

As part of their first ever attempt at …

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SkillsUSA team volunteers to help parents

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The SkillsUSA Education and Training students at Powell High School have been lending a hand to local parents since the beginning of this school year. 

As part of their first ever attempt at a community service project for their upcoming SkillsUSA competition, the Education and Training team of Kendal Eden, Elle Wilson and Ava Stearns began providing free child care to parents attending Love and Logic parenting classes from 5:30-7 p.m. through the school district. The students learned what they used in class to safely care for, play with and teach local children. Good news spread and they have started to provide child care for other events including an Informed Trauma Care class and upcoming Title 1 night.

Wilson, Stearns and Eden are not strangers to community service. Wilson has volunteered with Child Evangelism Fellowship for two years and Eden and Stearns are both Big Brother Big Sister Mentors — all three have learned valuable lessons from their classwork and volunteer child care experience. 

“My biggest thing is not disciplining but managing the kids and telling them no,” Eden said. “I want to be nice to the kids, but have them listen to you at the same time. So that was probably the most difficult part.”

Wilson, who hopes to be a third-grade teacher, learned that she does not enjoy working with what she calls “the little-littles” but she has been able to practice techniques she  learned in class with the child care children.

“My favorite thing that we’ve learned is about classroom management — it’s not punishment, and a bunch of rules. It’s making your classroom into a team, where you’re all working together and understanding each other, more than, ‘If you did this wrong, you’re in trouble,’” Wilson said. “It’s, ‘Here’s why we can’t do that, here’s the natural consequence, this is what we’re going to do differently next time.’”

Eden said she learned to work with a range of age groups and Stearns said that using basic child management skills she learned in class was the most valuable.

Adrienne Cronebaugh, the community mental health coordinator who organized the Love and Logic and Trauma class, appreciates the girls’ volunteer work.

“This has been a win-win for all parties involved. The students gain experience working with children in a classroom setting,” Cronebaugh said. “The parents have the opportunity to learn practical tools to better support their child and create healthy relationships. And the children have an amazing time playing games, dancing and reading.”  

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