Letter: School volunteers make a difference

Recently, Cedar Rapids Community School District employee Marcia Hughes penned an article describing how 'Volunteerism strengthens our schools.” Every thing that she said in that article was so, so true. The nationally recognized success of our schools is directly related to the number of volunteers and the time they spend in our schools. And it is right that the district 'take time to formally recognize these valuable contributions.”

I fondly remember the day that Hughes handed me my district 'Volunteer of the Year” award. As much as I am proud of that award, this is not why I continue to volunteer in our schools. We volunteers don't spend our time looking for 'awards,” but enjoy the 'rewards” of knowing that we are paying forward to help the next generations succeed. Seriously, I am over 60 years old, an age that for most teenagers I am inconsequential, if not downright invisible. Yet, I cannot enter a classroom without students looking up, smiling and waving to the person who taught them how to use a drill when making sets for the drama production, or who took their photo during their play performance.

Those are the moments that volunteers work for: those connections between generations, the passing of knowledge, skills, and attitudes that will allow them to succeed and to continue to make the world a better place. So, please consider volunteering at your local school. Today's teachers need all the help they can get. You can make a difference.

Leonard Struttmann

Hiawatha