Last Friday, Frametown elementary teacher Marcy Skeens’ kindergarten students found themselves with Christmas in August delivered in a J.B. Hunt semi and distributed by a Santa all the way from Lowell, Arkansas. The fact that Skeens and her aid Michele Butcher knew what was coming and had alerted their students that they had a surprise in store did not diminish the children’s excitement.
The surprise, which wasn’t a surprise at all to Skeens and Butcher, came as part of J.B. Hunt Trucking Company’s nationwide Adopt-a-Class program. Each year, the company gives ten different classes throughout the United States $1,000 worth of supplies chosen by their teachers. The fortunate classes are chosen from a list of applications from the company’s employees who each nominate a class which contains a child or grandchild. . This year, driver Dianne Shook nominated Skeens’ kindergarten class, in which her grandson Wade Foster is a student... and she won.
Skeens, who admitted she was “very excited” about the gifts, continued to say, “It is really a pleasure to have the opportunity to receive materials which we couldn’t possibly afford to obtain ourselves, things not available through the school. This is just one good example of what companies can do for education.”
One important aspect of this program lies in the fact that the teachers actually select the “gifts.” After Skeens received a congratulatory letter early in July, she compiled a list of educational materials which she thought would help her and her students. She sent it to J.B.Hunt, “ and they ordered it all,” she noted.
The company’s “Santa” proved to be Greg Hampton, Midwest Regional Fleet Manager, who flew to West Virginia from the home office to present the ribbon-bedecked packages. Skeens commented that Hampton’s coming “was a surprise to me,” adding “I just knew the materials were coming.”
Of the project, Hampton said that the project came about because the company “wants kids to know that education is just as powerful as those big trucks.” He continued, “We want to give back to the children, to give back to the community.”
Following the opening of the gifts, the company rep spent some time enjoying the kindergartners’ reactions to the variety of materials. Among those materials were several Boogie Boards, which Skeens explained are “nice writing tools that don’t require anything electronic.” She added, “They’re nice for the kids to practice their letters and numbers on and for other activities as well.” Showing her enthusiasm, Skeens admitted, “I had to check them out before I left today.”
After the gifts had been opened and admired, the twenty-some students clad in J.B. Hunt Trucking Company shirts toured Shook’s truck. Skeens commented that this was just as exciting for them as opening the gifts had been. “It was a big day for the kids,” she said. “Michele and I knew we wouldn’t be able to calm them down after all that excitement. We just took them out to the playground for the short time left in the school day.”
No comments:
Post a Comment