Grow Tigers!
Editor’s note: This is one in a series of articles marking the 50th Anniversary of Hartselle City Schools.
Just this week, my husband Jeff and I bought a Tiger Card to support the football team. It’s one of numerous Tiger Cards we have purchased since the days when he coached and in the years that followed. A young athlete came to our front door, and we scavenged the needed $25 from two wallets and a bowl of change.
Over the years we have purchased gift wrap, cookie dough, barbecue plates, seafood dinners, and even ears of corn from students in Hartselle’s schools who have knocked on our door and kindly asked if we could support the schools and clubs and athletic organizations that were working to grow them into young women and men.
I can remember my own mother, Judy Slate, knocking on doors to sell F.E. Burleson PTA Calendars each year in order to raise funds for the elementary school. Families across the city would purchase calendars and have their children’s names inscribed on the little calendar day squares that marked their birthdays.
Each morning when I awoke for school, I would take a peek to see if any of my classmates would be coming to school that day with a beaming smile and tales of cake and ice cream.
I can remember going door to door myself to sell magazines to my neighbors in support of Hartselle Junior High School. There was a particular year when I was thrilled that my fundraising efforts led to winning a rug that featured a group shot of the Welcome Back Kotter “Sweathogs”. (I don’t imagine my mother was as thrilled as I was to add the accessory to my bedroom decor.)
I can certainly remember attending Crestline’s Halloween Carnival. As a child focused on all-thingstrick-or-treating-related, I don’t even remember being aware that the carnival was meant to be a fundraiser. I just knew it was fun!
As a student, I benefited from the fundraising efforts and volunteer service of those who surrounded me in our little community. Fast forward to my years as Principal of Barkley Bridge Elementary, and I was often humbled by the extraordinary fundraising and volunteer efforts of PTO Officers and Homeroom Moms and families in general.
Hartselle’s original volunteer school board and the community members who stood with them in their push to grow a new school district served in classrooms and healthrooms, on athletic fields and courts, in libraries and on playgrounds, and beyond. Churches, scouting organiza-tions, city league sports teams and more have also advocated for kids and worked to provide them with the resources and the experiences needed to grow.
School has again begun. If you’re a parent or grandparent rifling through papers or reading through notices from eager classroom teachers informing you of fundraising opportunities or of needs for volunteers, do what you can. Big gifts are wonderful. Numerous hours of volunteering are welcomed and appreciated. But small gifts and one or two hours of your time are meaningful, too. Hartselle City Schools was built on them.
Like original school board member Elmo Kerr who continued to stripe and ready the football field on through the years when his grandson played as a Hartselle Tiger, you may find that the efforts nurture you as much as they nurture the young learners they are intended to serve.
In short Grow Tigers!
