A couple of weeks ago, I was invited to attend a Career Expo at the Rhodes School for the Performing Arts in Humble, TX, outside Houston. The Rhodes School is a Title I school that provides coursework in dance, theatre, visual arts. Piano, percussion, choir, violin, and audio production. It is the only charter school designated by the U.S. Department of Education as a fine arts magnet school, and they are nurturing some very talented artists and performers.
The Career Expo was organized by Ashley Hill, who you might remember from her blog post and appearance on Awareness Wednesday addressing restorative practices in the classroom. With her commitment to justice and inclusion, it was no surprise that she organized an event that was engaging, diverse, and reflective of the student body. Vendors included a local news station, financial experts, cosmetologists, realtors, and the 12-year-old founder of Sugadoo Cosmetics. If you’re local, check out Cowboys Cookies to support a young entrepreneur who attends the Rhodes School!
Students got hands-on experience with many of the vendors, trying products, giving on-camera interviews, getting makeovers, and more. At the Hope 4 All table, students got to experience nonprofit work by creating content for our Instagram and Facebook pages, contribute to a blog post, and vote on an organization to receive a $1,000 donation. I loved getting to talk with them about what we do and listening to their insights as they selected an organization to support. Keep reading to enjoy their thoughts on giving back to the community.
Why is it important to give back to your community? What do you do to give back?
*edited for clarity
“It’s important to help others.”
“When you have something and the other person doesn’t have it, [if you brag about it] they will be sad. Then as soon as he gets something super expensive you will be sad. TREAT OTHERS THE WAY YOU WANT TO BE TREATED.”
“To help build people”
“It’s important to give back to the community because it’s the world we live in and if we don’t help it, no one will do it for us.”
“It’s important to contribute because it’s where we live and just knowing that you helped out can make you feel good inside. Plus, in the end, your community will look great!”
“I think that you should donate money. I believe you should donate because when you donate you are helping the school system bit by bit also helping the environment and other things.”
“I’d like to say that just helping the community and being kind is very important. A good reason is that some people are not as lucky as you and if you were in a certain situation, you would want someone to help you out and be there for you.”
“It’s important to give back to the community because we live in that community and we love awesome communities.”
“I think it’s important to give back to the community because we live in that community and it is always good to give back because not everybody has the same things everyone else has. We should always give back because there are homeless people in the world and they might not have food or shelter. So in conclusion, you should ALWAYS give back to your community.”
“It is important to give back because it helps everyone [and] it’s like a 360 deal. You do a good deed, it helps you, and then you get a good thing coming in the long run.”
Thank you to Mrs. Hill and all the 3rd-8th grade students who came by our table! It was a great day!
