Dr. Beth Day-Hairston
to Dr. Beth-Day Hairston, associate professor in the WSSU School of Education and Human Performance, on the successful launch of the First Annual Dad’s Fair April 22, a community service learning project sponsored by Winston-Salem State University’s Spring 2009, Parents, School and Community Relations Class in the School of Education and Human Performance. The project involved the fathers, uncles, grandfathers, and men of Bolton Elementary School for a day of fun, food, door prizes, exposure to Bolton Elementary Staff, and resource materials to help develop future leaders. Students in Dr. Beth Day-Hairston’s spring 2009 Parent, School, and Community Relations course worked collaboratively with Bolton Elementary School to organize the event. The project was designed to fulfill a course requirement to develop a service-learning project to recruit men, particularly dads, to get actively involved at Bolton Elementary School. After students completed a needs assessment of the school, the principal requested that the class design a project that would get men actively involved in the school. Students in the class were responsible for organizing activities for dads and their children to do together. In addition, WSSU students designed a father friendly pamphlet that provided statistics and tips on how fathers can get involved in school and at home with their children. School administrators projected that less than 50 people would attend. However, over 80 men including fathers, uncles, and friends of the family attended the event with children, which made the total attendance include over 160 people. As a result of the event, students learned from the dad’s dialogue ways to get them really involved in all aspects of the school that are not written in the textbooks. More importantly, the men made a commitment to join the PTSA, volunteer in school programs, and meet monthly at the school to develop a plan of action to mobilize dads in the school. The service-learning project yielded media recognition in the April 29 issue of the Winston-Salem Journal and it was posted on WSSU’s Website.
