The 2008 Adopt-A-School fundraising Sustainer Drive begins April 1st and we invite you to join the Westervelt Company in supporting the program. The Westervelt Company has served as the corporate sponsor for Adopt-A-School since 1992. In 2007, the Sustainer levels of giving were renamed to relate to the education arena. Instead of the former Gold, Silver, or Bronze levels, Adopt-A-School Sustainer support is now designated as Board, Superintendent, Principal, Teacher, or Mentor levels of support.
The Adopt-A-School business-education partnership program is completing its twenty-third year of success in our community, proving that corporate America and our schools systems can work cooperatively to make a positive impact in our community. However, tax-deductible monetary support is essential to the continued success of this program.
Adopters and Sustainers are the lifeblood of the program. Adopters give support through donated time, expertise, and financial commitments. Sustainers provide the financial support necessary for the coordination and administrative function of the entire program. Contributions from Sustainers provide coordinator workshops; maintain quality training manuals and educational materials to support corporate and educational partners; and provide administrative support to the Adopt-A-School program through recruitment and training of new business partners for the schools.
To participate in the Sustainer program and to help the Adopt-A-School Program face the challenges ahead in the 2008-2009 school year, we hope you will join The Westervelt Company and participate in the Sustainer Program. The levels of the Sustainer program are developed to recognize participating businesses and to expand their participation in the Adopt-A-School program. At all levels of participation a Sustaining partner provides a donation to the West Alabama Chamber Foundation, Inc., an IRS approved 501 ( c ) (3) charitable foundation. Indicate your level of commitment on the Sustainer Commitment Form and return it to the Adopt-A-School office today!
Have you ever wondered about involving your business as an adopter for a public school? Well, this is the perfect time to find out more about that possibility! Several students in both the Tuscaloosa City School System and the Tuscaloosa County School System will attend new schools next August and adopters are needed for all the new schools.
Three new schools are scheduled to open in the Tuscaloosa County School System. Northport Elementary School will be a K-2 school located behind Tuscaloosa County High School. Students in the Huntington Place Elementary School zone will attend this school and Huntington Place Elementary School will house students in grades 3-5. Students from Brookwood and Vance Elementary Schools living in the Lake View and Tannehill areas will attend the new Lake View Elementary School. Finally, Duncanville Middle School will open to relieve some of the over crowding in Hillcrest Middle School.
Four new schools are scheduled to open in the Tuscaloosa City School System. The new elementary and middle schools to open in the fall of 2008 are Rock Quarry Middle School, University Place Middle School, new South Elementary School, and new South Middle School. The new South Elementary and Middle Schools will be housed temporarily in the current Tuscaloosa Middle School building until their new facility near the intersection of Cypress Creek Road and New Judge Factory Road is completed. The new South schools will be named within the next few weeks.
We need you!All of these new schools need adopters. Why not consider taking an active role as an Adopt-A-School partner? The program is flexible. Each partnership develops its own goals and activities based on the resources of the adopter and the needs of the schools. The possibilities are unlimited!
Call Loo Whitfield today at 391-0563 or email loo@tuscaloosachamber.com for more information. There's no obligation, nothing to lose, and it could be the beginning of a very rewarding experience for you and your business as well as providing much-needed assistance for a public school in Tuscaloosa!
On March 3rd large red and white striped hats, pajamas, green faces and even green slippers were spotted in several local schools. From celebrity readers to birthday cake to green eggs and ham, Adopt-A-School partnerships were proud to promote "Read Across America Day" in unique ways that best suited their partnership.
According to the National Education Association, "motivating children to read is an important factor in student achievement and creating lifelong successful readers." The NEA annually sponsors "Read Across America" which is a reading motivation and awareness program that calls for every child in every community to celebrate reading on or around Dr. Seuss's birthday, March 2nd.
Through the Adopt-A-School partnerships members of the business community, volunteers and educators participated in activities to promote a love for reading. Mike and Connie Spiller, representing Spiller Associated Furniture, read books to several classes at Crestmont Elementary, their Adopt-A-School partner. After they finished reading, the Spiller's donated the books they read to the Crestmont library.
Volunteers from The Junior League of Tuscaloosa spent the day with their Adopt-A-School partner, Holt Elementary School. The students were treated to the sweet rhymes and riddles of the JLT members' favorite Dr. Seuss books. Reading days are a JLT tradition at Holt Elementary and Dr. Seuss' birthday is a special celebration for the students and their adopters.
Cadence Bank employees visited Northington Elementary on Read Across America Day. Employees visited each of the classrooms, PreK thru 5th grade, and read to the students. After sharing a story with the class, the employees gave a brand new hardback book to each student and encouraged them to read throughout the year.
Verner Elementary School students started the day with a book character parade led by principal, Beth Curtis and members of the Tuscaloosa Middle School band. After the parade students listened as guest readers from their Adopt-A-School partner, The Bank of Tuscaloosa, read their favorite books.
Vance Elementary kicked off Read-Across-America day with wonderful bookmarks and pencils stating "Race into Reading". These items purchased by Adopter-A-School partners, Vulcan Materials, Southland Trucks and Mercedes-Benz U.S. International, helped motivate the students to read. In honor of Dr. Seuss' birthday, Vance Elementary students participated in a book character parade; ate green eggs and ham for lunch; played Dr. Seuss bingo; and every student enjoyed a piece of birthday cake, supplied by Mercedes-Benz. Volunteers from all three adopters visited the school and read to the students.
Tuscaloosa County High School students and their Adopt-A-School partners, Shelton State Community College and Wachovia Bank provided a special celebration for the students at the RISE program. Drama students from TCHS read their favorite Dr. Seuss books to the RISE students and then Shelton State and Wachovia provided a Dr. Seuss birthday cake to help students celebrate the event.
These are just a few samples of the business and education partnerships working together to promote literacy and encourage young readers. Celebrating "Read Across America Day" is one vehicle through which Adopt-A-School partners promote reading programs and challenge students to make reading a lifelong habit.
Using the theme "Tuscaloosa's Hidden Treasures" creative and informative displays lined the corridors of University Mall during Adopt-A-School's recent celebration of Adopt-A-School Week. As visitors moved from one display to the next, it was evident that the partners are indeed developing Tuscaloosa's future as they provide resources from the business community to enrich the educational process at their partner school.
The purpose of Adopt-A-School Week is two-fold: to express appreciation to all Adopt-A-School partners and to inform the community of the many projects and activities that are provided to schools through the Adopt-A-School. These aspects of the program were successfully accomplished in many ways.
While mall displays are perhaps the biggest and most visible part of Adopt-A-School Week, individual schools and adopters celebrated their own Adopt-A-School partnerships on-site at schools and places of business. Letters and cards of appreciation were sent to adopters, banners were constructed by students and hung in hallways, marques saluted Adopt-A-School partners, letters and fliers were distributed to inform parents of the many projects of their partnership, adopters were invited to schools for adopter-appreciation breakfast or lunch, students wrote personal thank you notes to adopters, adopters provided breakfast or lunch for school staff, and these are just a few examples of the week's activities.
Those who viewed the mall displays had the opportunity to vote for their favorite display in each of three categories. The winners in each category were: Best Theme-Related Display: Rock Quarry Elementary School
Most Informative Display: Northington Elementary School
Most Creative Display: Faucett-Vestavia Elementary School
On behalf of the Adopt-A-School Program and The Chamber of Commerce of West Alabama, we sincerely appreciate the commitment that the Adopt-A-School partners make toward ensuring that students in the Tuscaloosa City and County School Systems receive the best education possible.
In February, Hilton Garden Inn officially became an adopter for Skyland Elementary School and they "hit the ground running." Traci Channell, director of sales for Hilton Garden Inn and coordinator for the Adopt-A-School program wasted no time in getting the staff involved with Skyland Elementary.
On March 3rd, "Read Across America Day," Skyland Elementary students were able to meet their new adopters. A number of employees from Hilton Garden Inn visited the school and read in several of the classrooms. As the new adopters walked down the hall they saw bulletin boards welcoming them to Skyland. The employees selected their favorite bulletin boards and awarded ribbons for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place. A pizza party was provided for the 1st place winner. The winning bulletin boards were 1st: "Thanks for Helping Us Grow", 2nd: "Exploring Hiltons Around the World", 3rd: "Skyland is Staying with the Hilton". The bulletin boards were a great way to welcome the Hilton to the Skyland family. According to Traci Channell, Adopt-A-School coordinator for Hilton Garden Inn, "It was so touching walking through the hallways seeing the bulletin boards - how awesome!!"
Even though the partnership is very new, plans are underway for the rest of the year. "We have more to come.....it is wonderful to know that we are making a difference in the lives of these kids," explained Traci Chanell.
Adopt-A-School partners, P.E. LaMoreaux & Associates, Merrill Lynch and Publix, have been busy this semester at Rock Quarry Elementary! Rock Quarry students were recently recognized for good behavior. Students received paper fish from members of the faculty and staff when they were "caught" being good. Fish from the entire year were put into a fish tank and names were drawn. The Adopt-A-School partners attended this exciting event and each donated wonderful prizes for the drawing.
Jointly, students and all three adopters participated in the "Letters from Home" program. To show support for the servicemen overseas, students made cards and wrote letters that were mailed to different parts of the world. At a special assembly, involving the student body, the Rock Quarry SCA representatives from each classroom collected the students' cards and letters. All three Adopt-A-School partners were present as well, to turn in their cards and letters.
During Adopt-A-School week, the Rock Quarry faculty honored their adopters with an appreciation luncheon. Students made cards and placemats to thank the adopters for the many things they do for our school throughout the year. Rock Quarry also celebrated Read Across America Day on Friday, February 29th. Representatives from Merrill Lynch read to various classrooms in recognition of the event. P.E. LaMoreaux, Merrill Lynch and Publix continue to support and impact the lives of Rock Quarry Elementary School students.
On March 3 Flatwoods Elementary kicked off "Read Across America Day" with an Adopter Appreciation Luncheon. Leadership Tuscaloosa Alumni Association, Northport Medical Center, and Northport TaeKwonDo Academy were honored. The school provided lunch and faculty and staff provided additional sweets and goodies.
Also, Ms. Tiffany Spencer, the Flatwoods principal, read to the students during their lunch time. This allowed the teachers to have "duty free lunch" and to spend time with representatives of each Adopt-A-School partner. In addition to enjoying the appreciation luncheon, Adopt-A-School partners, several community and school leaders visited the classes and to share a favorite book or poem.
Oakdale Primary School has reaped the benefits of having two great Adopt-A-School partners. Both Hunt Refining Company and the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity are an integral part of the Oakdale Primary School community and help the students in a variety of ways.
Members of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity delivered over 100 bags of mulch to the Oakdale Outdoor Classroom and later returned to help spread the mulch and plant trees. The outdoor classroom was developed and is cared for by Oakdale students, however, the helping hands and muscle provided by the Alpha Phi Alpha men helped prepare the area for spring.
Hunt Refining Company sponsors Oakdale Primary School's "I CARE Wall of Character". Students learn a new character word each week and teachers nominate two students per class who are good examples of that word. Once a month these students are invited to an I CARE Wall of Character Pizza Party to recognize the students and celebrate their examples of good character.
Additionally, both Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity and Hunt Refining give support for reading initiatives at Oakdale. They provide guest readers, student rewards, and work closely with the Oakdale faculty and staff to develop interesting ways to motivate the students. Recently, the adopters helped with the book character tea during "Read Across America" week. Students dressed as a character from their favorite book and then visited the library for special treats and animal cracker bingo. Alpha Phi Alpha and Hunt Refining continue to support and nurture the students at Oakdale Primary School.
In celebration of Adopt-A-School Week, the student council officers from Cottondale Elementary School visited their Adopt-a-School partner, BF Goodrich Manufacturing. The students visited the plant and were introduced to many of the BF Goodrich managers during a special meeting. Each student told the group about their favorite partnership activity. The students enjoyed the opportunity to see their adopters in the workplace. Nicole Henderson, Adopt-A-School coordinator for BF Goodrich and Linda Rosen, coordinator for Cottondale Elementary organized the event.
The City of Tuscaloosa's Environmental Services Department announced the winners of the 2008 School Phone Book Recycling Contest. A total of 22,383 books were collected this year, up from 10,424 in last year's contest.
Tuscaloosa City School winners: 1st Place ($1,000 award) - Woodland Forrest Elementary, over 9 books per student; 2nd Place ($500 award) - Arcadia Elementary; 3rd Place ($300 award) - Verner Elementary; 4th Place ($200 award) - Rock Quarry Elementary. A total of 10,276 phone books were collected by 13 schools in the city school system, almost 4 times the amount in 2007.
Tuscaloosa County school winners: 1st Place ($1,000 award) - Myrtlewood Elementary, over 12 books per student; 2nd Place ($500 award) - Cottondale Elementary; 3rd Place ($300 award) - Flatwoods Elementary; 4th Place ($200 award) - Faucett Vestavia Elementary. A total of 12,107 books were collected by 12 schools in the county school system, a 57% increase over last year's collection.
Winners are calculated based on the number of books collected per student at each school in both city and county school systems. Cash awards are provided by AT&T The Real Yellow Pages
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On March 3rd large red and white striped hats, pajamas, green faces and even green slippers were spotted in several local schools. From celebrity readers to birthday cake to green eggs and ham, Adopt-A-School partnerships were proud to promote "Read Across America Day" in unique ways that best suited their partnership.
Using the theme "Tuscaloosa's Hidden Treasures" creative and informative displays lined the corridors of University Mall during Adopt-A-School's recent celebration of Adopt-A-School Week. As visitors moved from one display to the next, it was evident that the partners are indeed developing Tuscaloosa's future as they provide resources from the business community to enrich the educational process at their partner school. 
The purpose of Adopt-A-School Week is two-fold: to express appreciation to all Adopt-A-School partners and to inform the community of the many projects and activities that are provided to schools through the Adopt-A-School. These aspects of the program were successfully accomplished in many ways. 
of business. Letters and cards of appreciation were sent to adopters, banners were constructed by students and hung in hallways, marques saluted Adopt-A-School partners, letters and fliers were distributed to inform parents of the many projects of their partnership, adopters were invited to schools for adopter-appreciation breakfast or lunch, students wrote personal thank you notes to adopters, adopters provided breakfast or lunch for school staff, and these are just a few examples of the week's activities. 
On behalf of the Adopt-A-School Program and The Chamber of Commerce of West Alabama, we sincerely appreciate the commitment that the Adopt-A-School partners make toward ensuring that students in the Tuscaloosa City and County School Systems receive the best education possible.
In February, Hilton Garden Inn officially became an adopter for Skyland Elementary School and they "hit the ground running." Traci Channell, director of sales for Hilton Garden Inn and coordinator for the Adopt-A-School program wasted no time in getting the staff involved with Skyland Elementary. 
On March 3 Flatwoods Elementary kicked off "Read Across America Day" with an Adopter Appreciation Luncheon. Leadership Tuscaloosa Alumni Association, Northport Medical Center, and Northport TaeKwonDo Academy were honored. The school provided lunch and faculty and staff provided additional sweets and goodies. 
In celebration of Adopt-A-School Week, the student council officers from Cottondale Elementary School visited their Adopt-a-School partner, BF Goodrich Manufacturing. The students visited the plant and were introduced to many of the BF Goodrich managers during a special meeting. Each student told the group about their favorite partnership activity. The students enjoyed the opportunity to see their adopters in the workplace. Nicole Henderson, Adopt-A-School coordinator for BF Goodrich and Linda Rosen, coordinator for Cottondale Elementary organized the event.