Mulberry Elementary learns value of service early

sophia@tri-parishtimes.com

Respect, caring, responsibility, citizenship and leadership are the foundation that EarlyAct, a statewide service club for elementary students 5 to 13 years of age, is built on.

EarlyAct is a subsidiary of Rotary International, a global network of community volunteers, and was created to bring Rotary values and ethics to elementary students.

Yolanda Trahan, president of the Rotary Club of Houma, said she believes that children learning about living in the community and what it means to give back at an early age helps them grow into future leaders.

“[EarlyAct] gives them skills that will carry them through their lives,” she said. “It is really a wondering opportunity for our young children to learn what it means to be a good citizen.”

The Rotary motto is “service above self.”

“The students are learning what it’s like to help a third world country,” Trahan said. “We talk about the Rotary Club of Houma and how it has joined forces with other Rotarians across the U.S. to take on an international water project in Haiti.”

Mulberry Elementary School’s EarlyAct Club is the first chartered club in Terrebonne Parish. Faculty sponsor Sybil Webb, a Houma Rotarian, helped to bring the program to the school.

Webb and Mulberry teacher Kayla Boudreaux work with a select number of students to hold monthly meetings just as the area’s Rotarians do.

However, all 950 students at Mulberry Elementary are part of the club.

EarlyAct holds meeting at Mulberry before school. The local Rotarians help a select group of student representatives. Webb said the students take notes and relay the information to their fellow classmates during Homeroom.

“The purpose is to teach children how to run a club with parliamentary procedures,” Webb said. “It teaches them responsibility and teaches them how to be useful citizens. The club is service-oriented. For us, it’s all about giving back to the community.”

Webb truly believes that if students start learning about their civic responsibility to the community that it will enrich their lives in the long run.

“When you help others, good things come back to you tenfold,” she said. “Everybody has a responsibility in life. We can already see the principles of the program working. During recess, the students are more helpful to each other, and with the service projects, they are more willing to lend a hand in the community.”

Students in EarlyAct club learn “early” what it is like to help people on a national level and not just a local level. Webb said it gives them the opportunity to assist those in need.

One of the group’s biggest service projects was making handmade postcards for the troops overseas. Webb said the cards were hand delivered to troops in Israel by a Mulberry teacher.

The Houma Garden Club also helped the children plant indigenous plants on the school grounds.

Most recently, the group joined the BETA, 4-H and “Just Say No” clubs at the school to collect items for Toys for Tot and for the local food banks. Webb said the school calls its program the “SOUPbowl,” which mimics the NFL’s Super Bowl.

Mulberry Elementary School Early Act Club officers helped gather toys for the Toys for Tots program in Terrebonne Parish. Pictured from left are Lillie Tolbert, secretary; Shelby Johnson, reporter; Sarah Rodrigue, 2010 president-elect; and Matthew Methe, current club president. The school’s 4-H and BETA clubs also helped to collect the Toys for Tots gifts. *Staff photo by SOPHIA RUFFIN