Photo courtesy of Cahaba Elementary School.
Seven fourth grade students led the effort to get a basketball goal at Cahaba Elementary School.
A group of Cahaba Elementary School fourth graders recently put a full-court press on the school, and the result was a slam dunk.
Bekah Jenkins, Ava Hodge, Carly Sudduth, Lily Johnson, Margaret Franklin, Bradleigh Cain and Stella Walker, all in fourth grade teacher Kylie Collins’ homeroom, were instrumental in the school getting a basketball goal installed at the playground.
On the track one day, one of the girls told Collins it would be great if the school had a basketball goal. Collins told the students that if they wanted a goal, they should write down their ideas and submit them to Principal Joy Tyner. The girls brainstormed on fundraisers. They wrote out their reasoning for a basketball goal. They drew blueprints. The girls saw a need and acted.
“That’s really cool to get to see that,” Collins said. “They were persistent.”
Tyner said funds raised from the November 2020 Turkey Trot event yielded more money than was predicted, so she took the idea to the PTO, which approved of a basketball goal. So, too, did the Trussville City Schools Board of Education.
A basketball goal was purchased and over two days various dads helped install it. Collins told her homeroom class about it one day and Tyner announced it to the school a day later. The word was out.
“You could probably hear them down the hall,” Collins said. “Our class erupted and cheered. It was really exciting.”
Tyner said the seven girls were persistent. They stopped her in the hall to ask if she had reviewed their letters and blueprints. When she did, she was blown away.
“I do think that we’ve developed that culture here, that kids know that they matter, that their opinions matter and that they do have a voice,” Tyner said. “The teachers have established that culture. They take ownership of this school. It’s not our school, it’s their school. They’re really protective of this school. They do what they’re supposed to do.”
The girls learned about the process for acquiring a basketball goal, from the cost to the approvals to the installation.
“Having an opportunity to actually teach children that their ideas matter and that they can reach out to someone that is an authority figure to them and share their ideas, and they were so respectful and had reasons for why they wanted it, it’s not a waste of time,” Tyner said. “To me, that’s the best civics lesson or leadership lesson that you could teach anyone. I was really proud of them.”
Tyner said educators should never lose hearing the voice of a child because those are the most teachable moments they have.
Said Tyner, “I think they’ll always remember, ‘Hey, you remember back when we were in fourth grade and we got that basketball goal?’”
