West Jax Rotary

The 2010 Chaffee Trail Elementary School EarlyAct Club is hard at work during its third year, as the club’s motivated students complete weekly community service projects and learn about Rotarian service. The group of 31 fourth and fifth graders is led by Chaffee Trail teachers Lois Ivey and Michelle Tyson. The EarlyAct students receive support from Bishop John J. Snyder High School Interact sponsor GiGi Carroll who brings Interact Club students to work with the EarlyAct members. The Interact students offer peer mentoring to help the children develop their confidence, build social skills, and foster new friendships.

EarlyAct is sponsored by the West Jacksonville Rotary Club which provides funding for club activities, refreshments and t-shirts. Rotary Club members also serve as role models explaining Rotarian philosophy and professional practical application concepts used during projects and throughout the students’ daily lives.

The elected officials start each meeting leading the members in the ‘pledge’ modeled after the Rotary Four-Way test. The students are encouraged to reflect on the pledge during their daily activities in the things they “think, say, or do.” The students also modeled their projects after the Rotary Four Avenues of Service setting projects with an internal school service focus, an external community service focus, and an international service focus. So far, the students established weekly classroom paper recycling used for school fundraising, designed and implemented a project to rectify 4 outdoor umbrellas, serve as teachers’ assistants, prepared over 100 holiday cards for the residents at Heartland Assisted Living Facility, and assembled 50 valentine gift bags for Wolfson Children’s Hospital. The group plans to work with local business partners to beautify the school grounds, send supplies to overseas Military Soldiers, and conduct a book drive benefiting overseas children.

With such an aggressive campaign, it is easy to recognize that the members of the Chaffee Trail EarlyAct are truly committed to learning the meaning of “Service Above Self.”