Dothan, Alabama - On Thursday, September 8, 2022, from 9:00 - 11:00 a.m. Dothan City Schools’ Bright Key® program will host a volunteer training in the Dothan City Schools Board Room at 1665 Honeysuckle Road, Suite 1, Dothan, Alabama, 36305.
“We invite any community member who wishes to impact student success to join us,” said District Bright Key® Coordinator Brittany Shepard. Volunteering through Bright Key® is easy. We simply need your willingness to build a relationship with a student and a little bit of your time!”
Volunteers who serve through Bright Key® will be partnered with a student to work weekly for 30-45 minutes on basic academic skills while building a mentoring relationship with the student. Participating students range in grades kindergarten through sixth grade, and volunteers work with the same student each week.
“By the end of the school year, the volunteer and student truly become great friends,” said Brittany.
Any adult can sign-up to volunteer - parents, grandparents, retirees, community business employees, college students, church members, etc. All volunteers will need to submit to a background check before serving through Bright Key®. Volunteers can choose to serve at one (or more!) of the four Bright Key® schools within Dothan City: Heard Elementary, Highlands Elementary, Selma Street Elementary or Slingluff Elementary.
The training on September 8 will include presentations by the Bright Key® coordinators from each school, DCS Instructional Services, the Southeast Alabama Child Advocacy Center and The Exchange Center for Child Abuse Prevention.
“We have learned through research and statistics that the more a child interacts with consistent, supportive adults, the more successful they are in their school years and beyond, “ said Brittany. “We need our community to partner with us as we seek to meet the needs of our students.”
For more information about the training or volunteering with the Bright Key® program, contact Bright Key® District Coordinator for Dothan City Schools, Brittany Shepard, at (334)589-9148 or brshepard@dothan.k12.al.us.
Media outlets are invited to attend the training.
ABOUT Bright Key®
Bright Key® is a partnership between Wiregrass Foundation and Dothan City Schools to pilot an innovative, grassroots community school initiative in area schools Bright Key® involves school-community stakeholders (teachers, parents, and others) in the identification and implementation of programs and services to maximize the academic potential of every child. Each school’s program is uniquely tailored to positively impact the children, schools, families and communities of the individual school. Programs and services will be invited into the schools through a self-sustaining partner model that will continually engage the active participation of the stakeholders. Bright Key® has been at Highlands Elementary and Selma Street Elementary for over seven years and has expanded to Heard Elementary and Morris Slingluff Elementary where the initiative is in its second year.