Over the summer, GIA Leadership were coming up with ideas to make sure safety was implemented on campus year-round. Nearly four weeks into the new school year, and we are thrilled to announce the “Dads On Duty” initiative. We put the word out and received an overwhelming response from GIA Dads who were not only interested in being more involved in their child’s school, but also in being a presence on campus for several reasons. One of these reasons is to have encouraging male figures scattered about campus to interact with scholars at random. GIA caters to a large population of scholars that do not have, or have very little, exposure to a strong male figure in their lives. By having Dads on Duty around campus, this gives scholars a chance to regularly interact with one such figure, whom they will find handing out high-fives in the hallways, giving encouragement, and providing camaraderie during the school day.
There is encouraging science behind allowing responsible male figures to volunteer on campus. “Altogether, the benefits of having an engaged dad are called the ‘father effect'” says one article. Of course there are a number of causes and reasons this cannot always be true, so GIA is taking a small, potentially impactful, step to promote responsible behavior both in and out of school, with or without a “father effect” at home.
Dads On Duty will consist of four to five dads on campus in any given time slot. The time allotted per dad are 30 minutes each at the time of their choosing, either during morning arrival/drop off, during various grade-level lunch hours, or during dismissal. Our hope is to see the engagement that comes from having visitors on campus reflect on the scholar’s morale and motivation throughout the day. All dad’s who express interest in being part of this great initiative on campus will be required to complete a volunteer workshop, for general information on volunteering with GIA, as well as complete active shooter training for campus safety.
Interested in being a part of Dads on Duty? Reach out to GIA’s Director, Patty Messer at [email protected].
