Winona Area Public Schools
This letter is from Hez Obermark, a WAPS parent who joined the Washington-Kosciusko PTA. The W-K PTA will have its first meeting of the school year at 6 p.m. Monday, Sept. 11, at W-K.
Both of my daughters have gone to W-K. With my first child I didn’t feel I had the time or the energy to get involved with ANOTHER thing. I couldn’t imagine clawing out even an hour a week to attend a meeting, not to mention taking on tasks!
Then at a Family Fun Night I saw a fellow mom that had helped coordinate the event. She looked like she was busy, but she was also SO happy. She shared the calamities and the successes of pulling together the activity. As we were talking, we both looked out over the gym and saw all the kids laughing and having a blast and she sighed and said “And it is ALL worth it, to see moments like this."
It was like out of a bad Hallmark movie. But still, her look of sheer joy, it got to me. I wanted some of that in my life.
So, I went to a meeting. And I signed up to be the popcorn coordinator. It was a perfect fit for me, once a quarter for a few hours I got together with some other parents and we made popcorn. No biggie, I figured I’d “give it a try." On my first day of doing popcorn day I was a bit frazzled and we hit some bumps. I will be honest, I thought to myself : “Nope, I don’t need more chaos in my life right now” and decided to promptly never do it again.
But then ... the kids came in.
The joy that emanated from those kids as they walked by and saw the popcorn flowing over the sides in the machine, it was priceless. The teachers were so thankful and gracious. People talked about the tradition of popcorn day and how great it was to walk into the building and smell it throughout the halls. Parents stopped to say “I remember when they did this when I went to school here!”
It was SO. MUCH. FUN. I was now officially HOOKED.
For four years I have had the pleasure of being on the W-K PTA and I gotta tell you it has been one of the best decisions I have ever made. I felt like I could help, I got to see my kid in their element, I got to witness first hand the caring, compassionate teachers and staff that my kids got a chance to interact with on a daily basis. I got to see how hard folks worked, and how much diversity and inclusion is a part of everything that happens at W-K. That was the primary reason we chose to send our kids there, so they could be surrounded by kids that came from other experiences, other walks of life.
I am a firm believer that there is something a little magical about places that bring together a bunch of people from all different backgrounds and create a community where they can all shine and be celebrated. I love places that succeed at doing that, and I think W-K is one of those places. I love that I got to be a little part of it.
Join the PTA or get involved in W-K in some other way, I promise you won’t regret the time you share.