A brown bag lunch at White Oaks Elementary took on a different meaning this school year. Instead of foil-wrapped sandwiches and juice boxes, brown bagging it meant learning about one’s passions in life.
Two mothers on the White Oaks Parent Teacher Association, Deana Hally and Patti Meek, organized a lunchtime speaker program, in which various professionals came into the school to talk to children about their careers and passions. They called it Brown Bag Lunch, and it turned out to be a big hit not only with the students, but also with the Virginia Parent Teach Organization. The Virginia PTA awarded Hally, Meek and the White Oaks PTA with a first place state award, the Phoebe Apperson Hearst-National PTA Excellence in Education Partnership Award.
"This is just great for White Oaks," said Hally. "I am so proud."
The Parent Teacher Association at White Oaks is recognized year after year for its many hours of volunteer work at the school, picking up another gold level recognition with the President’s Volunteer Service Award this year.
Hally thought of the program because she wanted to provide mentors to the students. Meek helped her implement it, and together the women brought in an astronaut, paleontologist, journalist, FBI agent, veterinarian and musician, among several other professionals. The organizers admitted that they received some help obtaining speakers from the students themselves, who reveled via a survey that some of their parents or family friends had interesting careers. The program took off, and the children continue to respond enthusiastically, said Hally.
THE BROWN BAG Lunch program brings the speakers in for two, half-hour sessions with each of the fifth and sixth-grade classes. The students sit in the library in a tight circle and listen to the passions and dreams of the speaker that day. "It’s very intimate," said Meek. It happens a couple of times per week, and student feedback has been nothing but positive. One child even asked one speaker, a Smithsonian paleontologist, for his autograph.
The point is to get the children thinking, and also to teach them about passions and dreams before "they become too cool" in middle school, said Hally. Each speaker provides a different experience, she said. Some are more hands-on, such as the FBI agent who brought in handcuffs and bulletproof vests.
"It speaks to all of our children, it doesn’t just speak to one group or another," said Margi Flynn, White Oaks PTA president.
Each speaker makes a connection to the students’ current curriculum. Whether it’s writing or math, they try to teach the children that those lessons will someday be very useful to them.
"We try to bridge that connection to the classroom," said Meek. "We always want to connect it back to what they’re learning now."
Meek and Hally said the program could eventually expand to some of the younger grades, but for now it’s best suited for the fifth and sixth-graders. The women continue to keep their ears open for speakers who sound interesting and appropriate for the children. They’re constantly making connections and contacts in order to keep the program afloat.
"This really is a wonderful example of what parent, communities and schools can do together, by working together to bring in quality programs that build a sense of community," said Ramona Morrow, past president of the Virginia PTA, who presented the award to the White Oaks PTA.