Hi All!.

 It's about that time again to start thinking about next year's relay!! YEAH!!!!  the RFL committee in my community created a new position called RELAY IN SCHOOLS COORDINATOR and i volunteered for the job!!!!!!  Do any of you have any ideas that i could use to get the local schools in my area involved in RFL ? Suggestions from anyone would be appreciated!!!! THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!

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homerun_barbie – October 3, 2007 – 4:56pm

One suggestion

BobbyCherry2's picture

Lots of patience!

Schools can sometimes be difficult to get into.

The best thing to do is to find a teacher who is part of Relay For Life and get them to speak with their colleagues and administrators about getting involved. Teachers will do anything in groups.

As for students... once the teachers are on board, the kids will be, too. The best clubs to start with are service-oriented ones (Key Club, SADD, Student Council).

But don't forget athletics! Many teams are required to do community service work as part of the team. This is a great way to do that.

And cheerleaders are a good one. Find out who the advisor is and talk to them.

But don't forget elementary schools, either. Again, find that teacher connection. Or cold call the principals of the buildings and ask to speak at a faculty meeting. Make it brief (under 10 minutes).

One thing we did to attract elementary students and families was have a Family Fun Fest. We invited mascots, performers, had face painting, etc. It was fun and hopefully we'll do it again in 2008.

BobbyCherry2 – October 3, 2007 – 7:25pm

I'm With BobbyCherry2 :)

rflvolunteer's picture

Schools can require patience and a "way-in"... Some ideas (inlcuding some BobbyCherry2 already mentioned):

· Get the support of the School Board to give you a way-in to multiple schools - The school board can provide support with multiple schools for Relay For Life to be a "key activity" in their school system, and can communicate that to teachers, principals, etc.

· Find key teachers to get involved - Look for teachers who are strong school leaders, already involved with Relay For Life, might have a connection to cancer, and/or might have students that need service credits (see below)

· Setup a (short) Relay For Life presentation with school leadership - Do a Relay For Life presentation to the Principal/VP/faculty meeting, etc. to get them enrolled in the idea

· Get support for Service credits - Get help from teachers and see if Relay For Life involvement can fulfill "service credits", "extra credit" for certain classes

· Get the support of your Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) - the PTO can be a great way to get help, get your parents involved in Relay For Life, and get your parents' permission, most of all!

· Invite key school leaders in your community to your Relay For Life Kickoff - Make sure that you invite schools to the kickoff to expose them to Relay

· Get student leaders/student leadership organizations/athletic teams involved - If you can get some key leaders (Student president, honor organizations, SADD, athletic teams, etc.) involved, they can get their organizations involved. Look for a Kids Against Cancer-type club that might already exist.

· Leverage Healthy Kids Network, "Slip Slap Slop", or another local educational program to get into schools and teach kids about good habits to prevent cancer - This can give you a "way-in" to talk about how kids can get involved in the fight against cancer.

· Look for Cancer Connections - Look for kids/parents/faculty that might be battling cancer as a potential connection (be careful with this one - people can be sensitive about being "front and center" with their cancer battle - make sure you talk to those people and understand how they want their involvement to look. BUT... survivors are THE most powerful, most loyal group of people to involve - they get why they are a part of Relay 24/7!

· Find Businesses With Connections in the Schools - Look for people/businesses who have kids in the schools, that can help you get your foot in the door. If these folks are already involved in leadership activities with a school, it can help

· Have your Relay Committee connect with a school via a program that might be similar to "Junior Achievement" or another similar program to teach life skills to kids - This will build the relationship with the school, and allow you to talk about the life skill that comes with volunteering and giving back to the community.

· Don't Give Up - Getting schools/universities/etc. involved is a "one right connection" or "critical mass" kind of thing (seems like that is even more true than with other Relay participants. If you don't secure/enroll the right people who are the key leaders/change agents, the school leadership and kids can be hard to enroll.

 

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Hope this helps!

 

 

rflvolunteer – October 4, 2007 – 2:05am