By Hayley Wielgus
TYLER, TX (KYTX) - Some of the most valuable lessons are learned outside the classroom. A group of students at Premier High School are developing their leadership skills while helping the East Texas community.
Premier is an accredited, independent charter school in Tyler.
Leadership EASTEXAS is a grant program that started this year for students at Premier, John Tyler and Robert E. Lee High Schools. Each school's leadership team chose a service project. The students at Premier are just wrapping up a canned food drive for PATH.
More than 1,700 hundred food items have been collected.
"Everyone really put forth an effort to bring something to donate, to try to give back to the community," Premier Sophomore Zuri Williams said.
It all started with some friendly competition among classes at Premier and a contest of faculty versus students.
"If the students brought more cans, the faculty would get shot by water guns and water balloons," Premier Junior Joseph Fleming said.
Fleming said the project has shown him that community service can be fun. Through Leadership EASTEXAS, he's tutored and volunteered at Oakwood Cemetery.
"You don't realize how much you're bettering your community until you're actually doing it," Fleming said. "You're actually out there helping; it makes you feel good."
Program Advisor Kim Kautzman has been teaching the students about college preparation, career development and leadership. She's proud to see that their first service project is a success.
"We're a small school, but we got quite a few canned goods," Kautzman said. "We think it's going to make quite a difference when it comes to PATH."
The canned goods the students have collected will help stock the shelves of PATH's busy food pantry. It serves more than 3,000 people a month.
"I think we all are focused toward the importance of our involvement to make our community better," Kautzman said. "This program has helped them see that."
Fleming plans to attend UT Tyler to study civil engineering. He said this program is one way he's working toward his goal.
"It's helping me prepare for college and prepare to get jobs and helping me better my future as a student," Fleming said.
From the three high schools, there is a total of about 75 students in the Leadership EASTEXAS program. They were selected based on teacher recommendations.
The program is funded by donations from Tyler-area organizations. Robert E. Lee students held a book drive as their service project and John Tyler High School collected toys during the holiday season.
