Plan Your PTA Day of Service on BAND

PTA has been making a difference for 125 years, and there’s still so much work to do to make every child’s potential a reality! That means working together to meet the diverse needs of families and school communities. National PTA is inviting all PTAs to register, plan and host a Day of Service event before June 30 in celebration of the association’s milestone anniversary.

Participate to …

  • Show your community who you are and what you do!
  • Connect your work to the PTA network!
  • Elevate the PTA mission by showing our collective impact.

Planning and hosting a Day of Service event should be easy and fun! We know that PTA leaders already have too much on their plate—and handling everything on multiple platforms can be disorderly, which adds to the stress. You need a tool that will help you succeed.

Enter BAND, the one-stop-shop app PTA leaders are using to communicate with their board and members, plan events and increase parent involvement.

Plan, collaborate and keep track of all things Day of Service in one place. Invite your PTA members and start planning on BAND!

1. Create your BAND!

Customize your BAND with your school group and your own photo!

2. Invite Your Planning Committee & Volunteers

Send them a QR code or Link

3. Set Up a Pre-Planning Meeting

Enter details of your meeting into the calendar: share a location, a photo, a file, and even a link! Then set a reminder for people to join. Click done and share it as a post.

4. Vote on Your Service Project

Click into ‘Post’ and select ‘Create a Poll.’ Customize to allow for secret voting, single or multi-selection, and even set a deadline.

5. Promote Your Project

Plan together by deciding on messaging, scheduling meetings and events, posting task lists, and uploading materials for promotions.

6. On the Day of

Capture photos and videos and organize them into an album to share!

Want to see how the app works? Watch how BAND helps real PTA leaders stay organized with their Board and members!

BAND is a one-stop-shop group communication app for PTAs to collaborate with members, plan events, and get parents involved. PTA leaders can effortlessly streamline communication and stay organized in one place. Through BAND’s alliance with the National PTA, they are on a mission to help build on strong partnerships among parent volunteer leaders, teachers, and students. To learn more about BAND, visit this webpage.

BAND Proud National Sponsor of National PTA. National PTA does not endorse any commercial entity, product or service.

Encourage Healthy Habits at School with Welcome Back Packs

Tips and resources to help curb the spread of illness in the classroom

As in-person learning continues in schools across the country, Lysol and National PTA want to remind students of healthy habits in the classroom that can help curb the spread of illness, including COVID-19.

Lysol developed Welcome Back Packs in partnership with the CDC Foundation to provide schools and educators with resources to help reinforce CDC guidelines. Welcome Back Packs include materials such as:

  • Lesson plans co-created with educators to help students learn healthy habits such as handwashing, social distancing, wearing a mask, proper coughing and sneezing etiquette, and helping to prevent germ spread in classrooms
  • Stickers and decals to take the guesswork out of social distancing, including:
    • “Here” stickers to place around the classroom to indicate where to stand
    • Germ hotspot stickers to call out where germs are usually found
  • Educational posters to place around schools where healthy habit reminders are needed 

Lysol is excited to offer free Welcome Back Packs to National PTA members. To sign up for Welcome Back Packs with healthy habit resources to use around your child’s classroom and schools, please visit Lysol.com/WBP.

For more information on healthy habit resources, please visit Lysol.com/HERE. Lysol is a Proud National Sponsor of National PTA. National PTA does not endorse any commercial entity, product or service.

Russian and Ukrainian Adopted Children Impacted by War

This is part two of the blog series about the Russia-Ukraine War and the effects on children and youth across the country and around the world. You can read part one here. 

Sasha, adopted from Ukraine 14 years ago, was unable to sleep, pay attention in school or want to do anything with her peers. Last evening, her mom found her wide awake in the middle of the night, on her knees praying. This teen was immobilized by anxiety, fixated on the children she once knew from her orphanage and everyone’s safety.  

Robert was adopted 10 years ago from Russia. He came home this past week, stormed into his room and did not want to talk. Kids at school had told him he was evil because he was Russian. He felt so mad at Putin, embarrassed that he was Russian and worried about his birth family. Were they fighting in the war? Are they safe? Is he bad because he is Russian and what if everyone hates him now?  

“Sasha and Robert’s stories are reflective of the huge spike in anxiety, sadness, guilt, fear, shame, and worry we are seeing among Ukrainian and Russian adoptees,” reports Janice Goldwater, founder and CEO of Adoptions Together, one of many American agencies who supports families who have adopted children from Russia and Ukraine. 

Understanding why war happens is challenging and managing feelings related to war is complicated. With the Russian aggression toward Ukraine, two countries steeped in a collective history, it is even more thorny. For many children in our school and community this is personal because they were adopted from these countries. Latest numbers available from the State Department document that more Americans adopted from Ukraine than any other country in 2020. While Russia has banned all current adoptions to the U.S., Russian adoptees over the last two decades number 60,000.  

“Children who are now thriving as members of families may have a deep connection to their homeland,” Goldwater adds. “Helping these children navigate the complicated feelings about this war requires adults to be attuned to their needs.” 

Debbie Riley, LCMFT, CEO of Center for Adoption Support and Education (CASE), told me adoptees from these two countries are struggling to manage resurfacing feelings of loss re-triggered by the losses they are witnessing on TV minute by minute. Many were seeking support to heal from the psychological losses of their birth family and now they fear the finality of these losses. Questions swirling in their minds are, “Are my biological families dead? Have I lost any hope of reconnecting with them in the future? In this massive evacuation, will I ever find my family again? Will my birth father, brothers, uncles will be harmed as soldiers? What will war and sanctions mean for their survival? How will they pay for food and housing?” 

Local news reports across the country report the interruption of adoptions in process for Ukraine, one of the greatest fears or adoptive parents and orphans. There are also media reports of adoptive parents fleeing Ukraine just in time.  

Many adoptees worry if the other children still living in orphanages will survive. They ask, “Will the orphanages they came from be bombed? If evacuated, where will the children be cared for? Will they ever be able to come to America now that all flights are canceled, and travel has stopped?” 

As we watch Ukrainian parents taking their kids to safety at the border and returning to fight, or when we see dead Russian soldiers lying in the snow, they wonder, “Will even more children become orphaned when parents are killed by the war?” 

Some adoptees are young and still trying to make sense of the whole concept of adoption. They worry they could be sent back to their home countries—that they may worry that they do not belong here after all.  

As an adoptive dad, I am well aware of adolescent adoptees struggling with their identity, a necessary rite of passage for all youth, but even more so for those with cultural and family heritage they have not experienced first-hand. 

Adoption agencies deal with this identity formation all the time in their support groups. These adoptees may be asking, “Am I Ukrainian, Russian, American? How does this all fit together? What should I feel at this time of international crisis?”  

“Some adoptees feel suddenly very patriotic or protective of their birth countries without having words or understanding why, explained Riley. “Others may disengage fearing being associated with their national identity if there is a sense of wrongdoing or shame in events occurring in their country of origin. They do not want to be seen as aligned with something that others see as bad. Some may feel they do not fit anywhere but are outsiders, foreigners. ‘Where is my true foundation? Who will claim me? Who do I want to be claimed by?’”   

Our children need us to understand how complicated this is. It is hard to navigate this journey of identity formation under normal circumstances. It is imperative that we as adults understand how this search becomes compromised and complicated by the current tragic events unfolding day by day in Ukraine. The severity of the impact is related to the degree of trauma (adverse childhood experiences) the child has experienced, how long the adoptee has lived in his/her birth country, whether the adoptee has met or connected with other members of his birth family, if the adoptee has had the opportunity to visit their birth country and the adoptive parents’ level of commitment to honoring the home country’s national identity and culture.  

What can we do to help? 

“During challenging times, the presence of aware and empathic adults can make all the difference,” Goldwater told me. “Parents and teachers need to be aware that while all children are impacted by war, children from these countries are exceptionally vulnerable and historical trauma may be ignited. During this time, I recommend that you handle these children with extra care, kindness, empathy and recognize the extra level of stress they are experiencing. Being curious about what is behind the behavior will help keep the door open for communication and help to manage the traumatic nature of the situation.” 

Both experts encouraged the necessity of finding the fine line between caring and being invasive. As community leaders, fellow parents and educators, we must show a quiet sensitivity that lets someone—the student, or the parent—know that we care. We should be mindful and not allow our curiosity to overwhelm our concerns for the people we care about.  

Unfortunately, some of our kids will face bullying which often feeds on finding some presence of “otherness.” Just being adopted is different, but one’s national heritage can be another source of “otherness” especially during times of international stress like we are now experiencing. In the days ahead, we need to be aware that Russian adoptees may be faced with adverse experiences directed to their nationality and culture. They may be subject to slurs and bullying about being Russian and may be blamed for the war. One Russian adoptee shared that he worried that he would be bullied like his Asian peers during the COVID pandemic who were taunted and blamed for the virus. He wondered would his friends say, “Russian people start wars; they kill people for no reason.” 

The mere anticipation of bullying affects children’s mental health surfacing their feelings associated with depression, anxiety and stress. (You can find PTA’s anti-bullying efforts here.) 

These experts share, “Instruct children to tell someone if they are being bullied. Be proactive, anticipate with them how in times of these types of crisis people often due pick out someone to hurt, to blame when they themselves feel sacred or afraid or threatened. Share some comments or ways others might bullying them so they can prepare. Role-play ahead of time on how they can respond.” My younger children knew it well: tell an adult, walk away, stand up for yourself and move to a crowded area where other people can observe and assist.  

As a National PTA community, we are always grateful for our partnerships with experts in the field like Goldwater and Riley. May our commitment to every child bring out our most empathic response for the adopted children from Ukraine and Russia. May they and their adoptive and birth families know that our hearts bend to theirs during these challenging days. 

To learn more about support for children, families and school professionals please visit the Adoption Together’s website and the Center For Adoption, Support and Education (CASE) website. 

To assist Ukraine in their humanitarian crisis, please go here. 


Nathan R. Monell, CAE is the executive director of National PTA and the adoptive father of two teenagers. 

Parents, Kids and Talking About Ukraine

This is part one of the blog series about the Russia-Ukraine War and the effects on children and youth across the country and around the world. You can read part two here. 

“What is happening in Ukraine can be frightening for both children and adults. Ignoring or avoiding the topic can lead to children feeling lost, alone and scared, which can affect their health and well-being. It is essential to have open and honest conversations with children to help them process what is happening.”

— Ane Lemche, Save the Children

As I write this, Russian troops are accelerating their drive into Ukraine and all of America sits watching the events unfold with a mixture of emotions. We shed a tear with the Ukrainian father whose family cries as he leaves them at the border and heads back to fight. We marvel at the resistance of a strong people who are heroic in their resistance. We dread what it may cost them. We see a young pianist—and a Ukrainian choir choose music as their response. We can also imagine the costs in terms of life, liberty and finances for Russian families who may have had no say in this conflict with their neighbors. While we may cheer the rousing voice to promote democracy over autocratic rule, we know in our hearts that the cost may be too high a price for families abroad.

As we observe, so do our children. Though their fears may go unexpressed, a small child can hear the scary words and feel the emotions on TV and the conversations of adults, not realizing the war is not ours, at least not yet. Our teenagers may be engaging in world events in a new way by monitoring and sharing their social media observations. I know mine are. And we may have thoughtful young adults asking why it is that when war is ever-present in our world, some democracies get support from the U.S. while others do not. Are all the people of the world worthy of our concern?

How do we as parents respond? Any time I face a crisis in my family, I always consult the experts. Here are some nuggets of advice that we, as parents, can consider:

  • First, as parents we should process our own feelings so that we are more ready to make room to explore the feelings of our children.
  • Talk when and how the child is ready. If a child asks, they are ready to talk. If not, inquire, but keep these conversations age appropriate. We tend to say too much until we sound like the teacher talking to Charlie Brown, “Wah, wah, wah.”
  • Make it OK for the child to have the feelings they express. They may not seem rational through our adult mindset. But nothing will shut down conversation faster than invalidating a response, no matter what it is.
  • Make sure they know that adults all around the world are working on limiting and fixing the problem.
  • Invite them to talk to you at any time and be ready to revisit the concern. Once that door is open and they know it is safe to talk, they will have more to say and hear over time.
  • Monitor for any regression in behaviors that may indicate internalized stress or fear.
  • Look for practical ways you as a family can help. Cancel the pizza night and send the money to a relief effort. Draw a picture and turn it into a card for a friend who has a family member who may be facing deployment to the region. Be creative. Look for ways you can help online. Here is one place to start.

There is a special window of opportunity for our thoughtful children, teenagers, and young adults:

  • Parents can use this as a teachable moment of geography, history, democracies/autocracies, international alliances, and our own form of government. Emma Humphries, former history teacher and now chief education officer at iCivics reminds us, “What we have here is a global teachable moment. This is the type of moment that allows us to have those conversations.”
  • Assist your young researchers in helping them decipher reliable sources so they are building skills as they explore social media, their primary source of information. Embrace their curiosity but encourage thoughtful skepticism toward unrecognizable sources.
  • Lastly, model for your children empathy for those who may be impacted differently than they are. Be aware of the military families in your community for whom rising international tensions signal the possibility of deployment and the accompanying fear, separation, stress and loneliness that can create.
    • In part two of this blog post, some of my peers in the international adoption world will share how this crisis is affecting families who have adopted internationally from Ukraine or Russia.

Parents, this is one more opportunity for us to model kindness, our most underrated human quality, and to strengthen our children’s self-awareness and social awareness, two key components of building social and emotional skills that will benefit them for a lifetime.

For additional resources on how to address anxiety and talk about mental health as a family, visit National PTA’s Healthy Minds webpage.

For more complete advice on forging mental health for our children in this crisis and for resources for families facing potential deployment, please check out these resources:


Nathan R. Monell, CAE is the executive director of National PTA, the largest and oldest child advocacy organization in the country and is the proud father of two adopted teenagers.

Good Hygiene Practices Help Keep Educational Environments Healthy and Safe

Learn about CDC’s new online training available for free!

Did you know that good hand hygiene can result in less gastrointestinal and respiratory illness and fewer missed school days? Good hygiene practices are an important strategy to keep everyone in schools and early care and education (ECE) facilities healthy. But good hygiene practices aren’t always easy to implement in busy educational settings.  

The good news is that some new resources are available to help K-12 and ECE staff learn how to best encourage good hygiene practices in their educational settings. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the CDC Foundation have developed a free, interactive, online training on hand hygiene and cleaning.  

The Clean Hands and Spaces online training was created specifically for educators, administrators, and supporting personnel in K-12 and ECE settings. This four-module training focuses on: 

• How and when to clean hands 

• How to create a hygiene plan in an educational environment  

• How to select, use, and safely store cleaners and disinfectants  

• How to team up with parents and caregivers to build good habits with children  

You’ll learn from experts in the field about how to protect your educational community by promoting good hygiene practices. You can complete the training anytime at your own pace, and continuing education credits are available.  

This training will help you and your educational community be better equipped with the knowledge and skills needed to encourage good hygiene practices. Let’s all work together to promote clean and healthy spaces for the safety of our kids and community. We can do this together!  

Visit the following link to get started with the training: https://www.train.org/cdctrain/course/1100489/ 

 For additional information, please visit www.cdc.gov/handwashing and www.cdc.gov/healthywater/hygiene

How to Make a Mid-Year Ask to Join PTA—While Communicating PTA Value

By Linda Johnson & Ivelisse Castro

Happy Take Your Family to School Week, PTA/PTSA family and friends!

We are now about halfway through the 2021-2022 school year, which means that now is also a great time to share your PTA/PTSA’s successes and progress with your members and your community. This is no time to hide your light under a basket! Share how your PTA/PTSA has implemented our association’s mission (to make every child’s potential a reality!) with their support.

Increasing membership is vital for our PTA voice to be stronger and more influential. And we can all agree that our children need a powerful voice to speak up for them, especially as our communities navigate this ongoing pandemic. So, let’s use this mid-school year milestone as an opportunity to ask those who have not yet joined your PTA/PTSA—but have enjoyed your PTA/PTSA events or benefited from your resources—to join your PTA/PTSA now so that you can continue to provide critical resources and support to your community.

The research that National PTA conducted to develop our award-winning membership campaign shows that the number one reason people do not join PTA is that no one ever asked! That’s right—while we may believe that everyone in our community knows that they can and should join us, the data proves that people actually need an explicit, personal invitation to feel welcome.

So, there is no better time than the present! The easiest way to ask people to join your PTA/PTSA is to tie that invitation to a demonstration of the value you bring to your community. Make it a habit, now and throughout the remainder of the year. For example, whenever you host an event, ask attendees to join your PTA/PTSA at the end of the night; or, whenever you share photos on social media of resources your PTA/PTSA has collected for your school, include a link with instructions on how to join your efforts.

Another powerful way to do this is to create and share a (short!) report of how your PTA/PTSA has stepped up to care for your students, families and teachers this year—especially with respect to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Not sure how to do this? National PTA is here to help!

We have created templates you can quickly and easily customize, including a Sample Mid-Year PTA/PTSA Letter/Email and a Sample Mid-Year PTA/PTSA Status Report. There is also an example, completed report for you to use as a reference.

The Sample Mid-Year PTA/PTSA Status template is a fill-in-the blank report to help you:

  • Share PTA accomplishments and contributions so far this year.
  • Thank your PTA members for joining, supporting or investing in the PTA mission.
  • Thank all the people who have volunteered their time and talents to support the work of PTA.
  • Share member benefits.

In addition to your members and families, be sure to send your Mid-Year Status Report to businesses and community members who have supported your PTA/PTSA so that they can see the impact of their support. If they haven’t joined yet, ask them to join your PTA/PTSA, too.

For more ideas to grow your membership, you can check out 125 Ways to Increase Membership and the 10 PTA Membership Myths & Truths.

We’d love to join you in celebrating your PTA/PTSA accomplishments. Please share your Mid-Year Status Reports by emailing them to Membership@PTA.org.

Have a successful second half of your PTA membership year!


Linda Johnson and Ivelisse Castro serve on the National PTA Membership & Field Service Team.

We Can Do This

Building Vaccine Confidence by Engaging Parents

This January, National PTA launched an urgent grassroots effort to keep our children healthy and in school by building vaccine confidence in local communities. Funded by the US Department of Health and Human Services, the We Can Do This campaign is a nationwide effort to reach individuals and families facing barriers or hesitancy regarding COVID-19 vaccinations.

National PTA, whose 125-year history includes a long track record of public health advocacy and considerable grassroots organizing throughout the pandemic, is well positioned to help tackle this work. Nineteen state, regional and local PTAs have stepped up to lead information campaigns, community conversations, and vaccine clinics over a six-week period.

A Local Approach to a National Challenge

Reasons for vaccine hesitancy vary widely, and local PTA leaders understand the specific, often nuanced concerns in their communities. Each participating PTA is designing an outreach approach that makes sense locally. That could mean overcoming logistical barriers by hosting a pop-up clinic at a school or opening channels to accurate vaccine information from trusted sources that can be shared in the carpool lane, at sports team practices, at the community center or in houses of worship, or on Zoom.

In every case, the conversations are judgment-free: National PTA believes families have a right to ask questions and express their vaccine concerns without feeling shamed. However, we also believe that implementing layered prevention strategies is critical to protect students, teachers, staff and other members of their households, particularly those who are not fully vaccinated. And research supports that increasing vaccination rates lowers the spread of COVID, reduces serious illness, and shortens length of infection—making voluntary vaccination a key strategy for keeping schools open and maximizing critical in-person learning time for students. (Note: National PTA does not have a position on COVID vaccine mandates.)

In Norman, Okla., Adams Elementary PTA is planning a “community love”-themed pop-up vaccination clinic in mid-February. They’ve selected an accessible location (the high school parking lot) with drive-through and walk-up options and have partnered with local businesses—including a toy store and a bakery—to offer food and other kid-friendly incentives. Adams Elementary PTA made it a priority to bring in a partner that could increase comfort among the community’s Spanish speaking population; bilingual staff from a local pediatric practice will be on site to answer questions. The PTA is working closely with a large lab company that will handle all the clinical components (e.g., vaccine doses, nurses, etc.).

Around 600 “shots in arms” are expected to be delivered at this one pop-up clinic. Ultimately the goal is “keeping kids healthy and in school as many days as possible,” says Christel Wesley, Adams Elementary PTA President, “which means that our kids are getting food, growing academically, and their social and emotional needs are being met.”

The Serious Work PTAs Were Built to Do

The thoughtful, locally attuned organizing happening in Norman, Okla., is exactly why We Can Do This chose National PTA as a partner. “Our goal with the public education campaign is to reach as many people as possible with accurate, science-based information about COVID-19, especially vaccines and boosters. We want them to have the information they need to make decisions on how to protect themselves, their families, and their communities against the worst outcomes of COVID-19,” said Dr. Vivek Murthy, Surgeon General of the United States. “By working with trusted community partners who serve a diverse range of community members, such as the PTA, we can meet people where they are and help ensure that people feel confident making informed decisions about their health.”

While most of this activity is being organized in (and for) individual local communities, National PTA recently hosted a virtual event with the US Surgeon General, community organizations, and fellow PTA leaders on February 2 to address common questions about the vaccine and to share specific actions that PTAs everywhere can take to increase vaccine confidence in their communities.

This is challenging, fast-moving work that National PTA expects to have a lasting impact on the health and wellbeing of students across the country. We look forward to sharing more stories and outcomes from our PTAs in the months ahead.

Learn More and Take Action

If your PTA is looking to maximize in-school student learning days by addressing vaccine hesitancy, check out the updated COVID-19 Resources page for useful materials and guidance.

And if your PTA is interested in hosting a community vaccination site, check out this resource. Hosting a vaccination clinic is easier than you think!

National PTA Grantee Cohort

State PTAs

  • Alaska
  • Washington

District, Council, and Regional PTAs

  • Miami Dade County Council (Miami, Fla.)
  • Montgomery County Council (Rockville, Md.)

Local PTAs

  • Adams Hill Elementary (San Antonio, Texas)
  • Adams Elementary (Norman, Okla.)
  • Bethesda Elementary (Durham, N.C.)
  • B.M. Williams Primary (Chesapeake, Va.)
  • Crestwood Intermediate (Chesapeake, Va.)
  • Forest Ridge Elementary School (Laurel, Md.)
  • Lawrence Number 2 School (Inwood, N.Y.)
  • Little Run Elementary (Fairfax, Va.)
  • Loftis Elementary (Hixson, Tenn.)
  • Martha Lake Elementary School (Lynnewood, Wash.)
  • Oak Grove Elementary (Bloomington, Minn.)
  • Ruth Oliver Walker Elementary (Florissant, Mo.)
  • Sanders Elementary School (Austell, Ga.)
  • Solar Prep for Boys (Dallas, Texas)
  • Urbana High School (Urbana, Ill.)

We Can Do This is a nationwide campaign to increase confidence in COVID-19 vaccines and reinforce basic prevention measures. It is funded by the US Department of Health and Human Services and facilitated by the Fors Marsh Group. Learn more at WeCanDoThis.HHS.gov.

National PTA Continues Celebration of “I Matter Because…” Reflections Artists

Every year, hundreds of thousands of students across the country and in U.S. schools abroad participate in the National PTA Reflections program. By creating opportunities for recognition and access to the arts, Reflections boosts student confidence and success, both in the arts and in life.   

In response to an annual student-selected theme, students can submit artwork in the categories of Dance Choreography, Film Production, Literature, Music Composition, Photography and Visual Arts. The program also offers the Special Artist Division, which recognizes students with disabilities who participate.  

As a tiered arts recognition program, student submissions can earn awards and prizes at the local, county, district, region levels. Winners from these levels then move on to the state PTA level. Finally, winning artworks from the state level proceed to the national level, where students can receive the Award of Merit, Award of Excellence, or the highest honor—the Outstanding Interpretation Award—for their artistic achievements.  

On Tuesday, Jan. 25, National PTA will host a Virtual Reflections Student Arts Showcase to continue to celebrate the over 200 national-level awardees from the 2020-2021 I Matter Because… program. As students and their creative talents are essential to the Reflections program, the event will feature more artwork and more students than ever before, with 22 student highlights! We are so excited to recognize all of our winners again and share the creative accomplishments of our featured artists with you.  

Top left – Anna Xie, Award of Merit in Visual Arts, Georgia
Top middle – Alea Garner, Award of Merit in Dance Choreography as a Special Artist, Utah
Top right – MaeLee Scoville, Award of Merit in Literature, Utah
Bottom left – Minjae Eum, Award of Excellence in Music Composition, Alabama
Bottom middle – Josh Devaney, Award of Excellence in Film Production, New Jersey
Bottom right – Trisha Shrestha, Award of Excellence in Dance Choreography, Washington

For a sense of the fun to come, we would like to introduce you to a selection of the featured students.  

Campbell Brown is a dancer from Russom Elementary PTA in Georgia. She won the Award of Merit for her Dance Choreography piece, “Shine Bright.” Dancing brings Campbell joy, and she likes to spread that positivity with others. In her own words, she explains, “I know that I matter because when I bring joy and happiness to others through my performance it makes the world a better place.”  

Tanishka Gupta won the Award of Merit for her poem, “I Matter to Me.” From Round Rock Senior High PTA in Texas, Tanishka shared that writing helps her express her ideas about sensitive subjects and “paint a picture with words.” The inspiration for her award-winning poem draws from the key points of individuality, self-worth, and uniqueness. Tanishka notes, “my true worth always has and always will lie inside me.”  

This year’s Reflections Student Arts Showcase will also highlight Boston Flake from Hobble Creek Elementary PTA in Utah, who won the Award of Merit for his music composition piece, “Bit Life.” (He also won an Award of Excellence during the I Matter Because… program for his literature piece, “I Can Do Anything!”) Boston, a blind DJ and music composer, has produced music for many years and performs in front of big crowds. He shared, “That is one way to show that I matter, by lifting others with my talents.” 

Want to hear from more talented student artists? Join the Reflections community and celebrate students’ creativity during the 2022 Virtual Reflections Student Arts Showcase at 7:00 PM EST, Tuesday, Jan. 25! The event will air on National PTA’s YouTube channelRSVP in advance to receive free Reflections-inspired activities, including an interactive game to play along with us during the event.  

If you can’t wait until Jan. 25 to view artwork from inspiring student artists, visit this virtual collection, which features the 200+ national Reflections winners from the 2020-2021 I Matter Because… Reflections program. Take a moment to view these students’ remarkable creative achievements and feel free to leave a comment or two!  

We also invite you to learn more about the top seven I Matter Because… Outstanding Interpretation awardees by reading a recent blog post and watching the award video. Congratulations once again to the recipients of the Outstanding Interpretation award: Claire Moon, Johan Novak, Joshua Johnson, Maeryn Elizabeth Jacob, Mark Wagner, Sydney Ware and Zoe Caraballo. 

For more information about the Reflections program, please visit PTA.org/Reflections.  


Sarah Scalet is the National PTA Arts in Education Fellow. 

How Your PTA Can Support Social and Emotional Learning 

We know social and emotional learning (SEL) happens at home and at school, but how do we bridge the two learning environments? That’s where your PTA comes in! 

National PTA has introduced our Healthy Minds program to help families and schools work together to support kids’ mental health and well-being. SEL is a key component of our approach to healthy minds! Throughout the pandemic, PTAs across the nation doubled down on their commitment to SEL in big and small ways. 

For example, to combat feelings of isolation and stress in their communities, many PTAs distributed mental wellness kits. These bags of resources provided a range of materials including everything from stress balls and fidgets for children to use to aromatherapy candles.  

Several PTAs also collaborated with school counselors to support their communities. In Georgia, Bartlett Middle School PTSA implemented a new “Coffee with the Counselors” event series, during which counselors would choose a hot topic and facilitate a discussion for families and students. Families were able to get professional advice on relevant issues and access a safe space to practice having these important discussions with their children. 

Meanwhile, in Utah, Bonneville Elementary PTA used a National PTA COVID-19 Relief Fund Grant to collaborate with school leadership to create a wellness center for students. They transformed an unused classroom into an inviting, therapeutic space distinct from the academic setting. A partition separates the Wellness Center into two main areas:  

  • In the Wellness Room, students can take a break during the school day when they feel stressed or overwhelmed. It is a place to process and connect.  
  • In the Resource Room, parents can find materials to help them manage mental health at home and in the community.  

You can learn more about Bonneville’s innovative approach in our Mental Health/Social-Emotional Support COVID-19 Relief Case Study

If you’re feeling inspired by these SEL success stories, here are some tips for getting started in your own community! 

Educate families about social and emotional learning, and why it matters! For families to reinforce social and emotional learning at home, they need to first understand what SEL is and how their children can benefit from it. There are so many ways PTAs can promote learning in their community, from sharing relevant informational and family activity handouts and podcast episodes, to hosting a book club or an event night. 

Help families and teachers develop a common vocabulary when talking about SEL. Discover what language your school uses when talking about social and emotional learning and life skills. Perhaps they use the CASEL wheel, the Second Step Program, or their own homegrown approach with school-selected core values. Either way, it’s important that all community members are on the same page! You can learn more about key SEL skill areas at PTA.org/SocialEmotional.  

Host activities and events that will help students (and their families) build social and emotional skills. You can incorporate SEL activities into your already existing events like your Fall Festival or even as a welcome before a movie night or pizza party. Feelings Charades is a great example for younger kids that can be adapted to fill just a little bit of time, or a longer window!  

Looking for a fun way to get tweens and teens to grapple with bigger SEL topics like identity, purpose, and decision-making? Hosting an event night where middle and high schoolers write Letters to their Future Selves is a fun way to prompt meaningful reflection. 

For even more ideas and resources, visit PTA.org/SocialEmotional  

Family Literacy for All

National PTA’s Family Reading Experience recently turned five years old, so we decided it was time for a refresh. Over the past year, National PTA has worked with literary content experts to help us re-design programming to be more accessible to the everyday parent and PTA leader by engaging the whole family in reading activities. With our funding from Office Depot, National PTA was able to pilot these new resources last spring with select PTAs across the country.

Sandra West, President of Miami Dade Council PTA in Florida, led the pilot work for her PTA and shared her thoughts about the experience with us.

How did Miami Dade Council PTA go about planning literacy programming?

Miami was, and is, still deep in the COVID-19 pandemic. Holding in-person events wasn’t an option. We started putting our collective heads together to seek authors willing to read their books on Zoom. The council would purchase the books and then mail them to participants. The United States Postal Service offers special media rate service that is affordable. Each book typically costs less than $3 to ship.

We were quite delighted to find that among our board members we had two authors and they knew many more authors. We began contacting them to schedule readings and arrange the purchase of the books.

Danielle Joseph read her book I Want To Ride The Tap Tap, which you can watch on YouTube. After the success of our first reading, the council was contacted by Coral Gables Family Literacy Festival organizers to participate in their Memorial Day Weekend Festival. The goal of the Festival was for every child to leave with a book, and we fulfilled their goal by giving away over 200 books. The only requirement to receive a book was for them to join our newsletter mailing list. Using that list, we promoted our second Zoom author, Andrew Toffoli, who read Susan Bear Anthony, which you can also watch on YouTube.

Another project of the Family Literacy Committee was a partnership with the Miami Dade County Public Library System to host authors and give away the corresponding books. Every three weeks or so, a different branch of the library hosts an author read and the council provides the books to be distributed.

Did you face any challenges in your literacy work?

One of our challenges has been negotiating discounted books. To find discounts we contact the author, the publishers, distributors and bookstores. A resource that has been amazing has been Scholastic. At first, we purchased discounted books through the Scholastic Book Club but then we were introduced to the Scholastic F.A.C.E. program, which allows us to purchase deeply discounted books with the promise that we will give them away and not sell them.

The initial pilot funds provided by Office Depot have been matched three-fold by the council, so this can be a continuous program offered to the 350,000 students in the fourth-largest school system in the USA. Thank you so much to National PTA and Office Depot for getting us started!

If Sandra’s family reading experience program excites you, make sure to check out our revamped Family Reading Experience page with our new PTA Leader Resources on how to plan your own literacy programming in your PTA! Happy reading!


 Sandra West is the president of Miami Dade County Council PTA.