With almost a dozen years of PTA / PTSA volunteer years under my belt, you’d think I have hundreds of “thank you” ideas for our volunteers. Not so much. I found myself walking the aisles of Hobby Lobby, Joanne Fabrics & Michaels looking for ideas to thank our community volunteer for participating in our junior high career day.
This is our sixth year for hosting a “career day” for our junior high students. Our PTSA asks community members to speak with three groups of students regarding their career; what they do, education required, typical day, etc. We ask them to dedicate an afternoon of their time to speak with our students for three different sessions. Each session is about 40 minutes long and has about 15-20 junior high students.
Our students absolutely love this day. Within the hour after school dismissed on Friday I received emails, texts and even a phone from friends about the feedback from their kids. We had over 25 presenter groups – FBI, accountant, dance instructors, psychologist, police detective, fire department, state representative, writer, IT, pharmacist, orthodontist, athletic trainer…these kids were introduced to so many career paths!
We wanted to show our thanks to our presenters – they did donate time out of their day to speak with our junior high students. Like with any organization we have small budgets to make things happen. What better way to say thank you then to go the homemade route!
Our bags were filled with something sweet & something salty. Pretzels, gum & lifesaver mints (I love those, they are my weakness!). While it doesn’t seem like much, I know from my own personal experience when volunteering I never expect anything – but when I do get something, it really can be the little handmade gifts thinks that made the most of an impression. I don’t want anyone to feel that they have to spend lots of money to thank me. Hopefully our presenters felt the same way.
If you are like our school, all person walking visiting the school must show & relinquish their drivers license until they leave the building. We clipped each presenters license to their bag so that we made certain they left with both! Another successful WOW career day under the PTSA belt – and hopefully a quick & easy idea for you for your next PTA event!
