College Week at Greystone Elementary

On Feb. 1, the entire student body and staff at Greystone Elementary welcomed mascots from the University of Alabama, UAB, Auburn University and even Spain Park High School. The visit was the finale of College Week at the school, a push to motivate students to look forward to their educations’ future.

Funding for the week’s activities largely came from Enrichment Teacher Mandy Fox, a 2011 final four contender for Alabama’s Teacher of the Year Award. For the distinction, Fox earned a $300 grant from the state.

The grant was mainly used as gas money for the mascots and to bring representatives from the Birmingham Zoo to the school. Fox and fellow enrichment teacher Judy Simpson also helped prepare a college fair, made successful from parent volunteers and college recruiters.

“The state is moving toward college and career readiness, and I thought what better way to prepare students, than this,” Fox said. “One of the recruiters pointed out that they don’t normally visit elementary schools, but she thought it was a great idea and said others should start having them.”

The week began with the visit from the Birmingham Zoo. Students also met the Samford University men’s basketball team and singing and drama groups.

Teachers had the students prepare for the week by sending homework to their parents. A large map decorated one hallway in showing where everyone’s parents went to college. Alabama and Auburn were popular, but students learned of colleges everywhere from South Dakota to Vietnam.

Two hallways were nicknamed the Hall of Fame and the Hall of Dreams. The Hall of Fame was full of posters from the teachers showing where they went, what they looked like and some of their favorite things about college. The Hall of Dreams contained bulletin boards with drawings from students showing what they want to do when they grow up.

“Students often get so excited about what they want to be when they grow up. It’s constantly changing,” Simpson said. “We spent the week focusing on what they want to study in the future instead.”

Fox put together the “ABC Book of College,” which teaches vocabulary necessary for students to take part in college discussions. She even made it accessible online.

“I had a first grader ask me which agriculture college would be best for him,” Simpson said. “They really were paying attention to what they learned this week.”

The end-of-the-week mascot visit was originally unplanned, Fox said.

“Our vice principal jokingly said we should have mascots come and wrestle,” Fox said. “I said, ‘No!’ But I thought about it, and having them visit was a perfect idea to get the kids fired up about college.”

Greystone is working toward becoming a “Leader in Me” school, a model that is designed to unleash student’s full potential. The 7 Habits of Happy Kids, by Sean Covey, which focuses on effective leadership and learning, is being used for the transition.

The school tries to do something special every year to get students excited about education. Next year, Fox said, they want to focus on science and let students have the opportunity to see intriguing aspects of science they normally wouldn’t experience in a classroom.