SWES PTA Committee

Hi Gator Family,

We are seeking  PTA Officers for the upcoming school year 2013-2014. If you are interested please contact the front office or complete the form that was sent home.  If you are unable to be an officer but would still like to help out, maybe consider being a Committee Chair.  Descriptions are below.

Southwest Elementary PTA Committees

Box Tops Committee

Manage and organize the processes of collecting Box Tops to redeem for cash to support Southwest Elementary.  Duties include communication of information to parents, collecting, cutting, sorting, and bundling Box Tops, mailing, organizing contests, etc.  This program runs throughout the entire school year. The Box Tops Committee sponsors contests between classes and hosts an end of the month party for the winning class.

Communications

The Communications Committee is responsible for all communications with the families of SWES and the community. This includes updates and maintenance of the PTA Blog, Facebook, PTA Newsletter, and the PTA website (PTAvenue).

Daddy Daughter Dance Committee

This Prom like dance is an annual event, held around Valentine's Day, for any Southwest Dad, Uncle or Grandfather to attend with all of his daughters, granddaughters or niece’s. The committee works very hard to decorate the cafeteria, hire a DJ and offer light snacks to the attendees. Preparation for the event begins in November, costs are covered by admission, and the 2-hour dance is a wonderful night for young ladies and their dads. This year almost 300 attendees enjoyed the dance!

End of the Year Celebration (Spring Carnival)

This event has been awesome that last few years. The students enjoy bounce houses, petting zoo, water-slide,face painting and much, much more. Spring Carnival/Festival is the end of the year celebration. Both the incoming and outgoing PTA board would be on hand to help.

Family Movie Nights

 A family friendly movie will be shown and refreshments will be sold. The committee will sell tickets, refreshments, and is responsible for setup and cleanup.

Fundraising

The Fundraising Committee supports all that the PTA strives to do for the school. Through the generosity of our parents, and community and the hard work of our students and staff we raised funds through our membership drive, our highly successful JAXCO, World’s Finest Chocolate, and many passive (at no cost to the family) fundraising opportunities.

Grandparent’s Event

This is also a new event that we would like to incorporate into our calendar to include the grandparents in our community. This would be a morning event probably with breakfast, a performance, and maybe an art project of some kind. We also think this is a great way to increase membership to the PTA. Because this is a new event the committee will decide the details.

Holiday Shop

The Holiday Shop may well be the students' favorite PTA event.  For several days in early December, the Holiday Shop Committee, along with a local business vendor, provides a holiday shopping opportunity with a huge assortment of gifts in all price ranges.  Each teacher has an opportunity to bring his or her students through the Holiday Shop to purchase gifts for family and friends.  The Committee "staffs" the shop by arranging for volunteers to do any one or several jobs - set up and take down at the beginning and end of the week, help the students shop, wrap purchases, read stories to waiting students, and so on. 

Hospitality Committee

The Hospitality Committee procures refreshments (either by purchasing supplies or soliciting donations from businesses) for all meetings hosted by the PTA Executive Board, such as membership meetings, open house, and committee chair meetings.  Hospitality Committee volunteers also serve as "greeters" for events, directing volunteers and parents to the appropriate meeting areas and providing assistance as needed.

Membership Committee

The Membership Committee is a core group, essential to the creation and maintenance of the PTA.  Through its organized year long membership drive, the MC, provides the basis and funding to support the PTA and its goal of reaching and serving every child in our school. The Membership Committee works to come up with new and exciting membership drives

Mother Son Date Dance

This Prom like dance is an annual event, held around Mother’s Day, for any Southwest Mom, Aunt or Grandmother to attend with all of her sons, grandsons or nephew’s attending SWES. The committee works very hard to decorate the cafeteria, hire a DJ and offer light snacks to the attendees. Preparation for the event begins in January, costs are covered by admission, and the 2-hour dance is a wonderful night for young men and their moms.

Nomination Committee

It is the responsibility of the Nominating Committee to select the most qualified candidate to fill each of the officer positions on the PTA Executive Board.  This is accomplished by taking suggestions from the membership, which includes both staff and PTA family membership.  Nominations can be taken from the floor of the general membership meeting as well.

Recruiting & Appreciation

This committee assists the VPs in filling any vacant positions on committees or the board. They will recruit for the open positions via sign-up forms, the PTA website, word of mouth, and email solicitations. This committee is also responsible for showing appreciation to our internal volunteers.

Reflections Committee

Each year, the PTA Reflections Program challenges students to create art inspired by a specific theme. Themes are selected from hundreds of ideas submitted by students to the PTA Reflections Program Theme Search. Past themes have included "If I Could Give the World a Gift...," "A Different Kind of Hero," “Wow!” and "Beauty is...”  The 2010–2011 theme is “Together We Can."  Southwest students participate in the Reflections Program by submitting entries in one of six arts areas—dance choreography, film production, literature, musical composition, photography, and visual arts.  This Committee works to encourage student participation, seeks out volunteer judges from outside the school, collects and organizes the entries submitted, and also plans and hosts a reception in the fall to view all the entries after winners are chosen. 

School Store

The School Store committee will be responsible for stocking the “store” with merchandise and helping and selling the items.  Dates and times will be selected at the start of the school year.

Staff Appreciation

This committee is always filled with fun, creative and generous volunteers.  The chairman will lead the team in brainstorming sessions to shower our teachers and staff members with the gratitude they deserve.   Then, each task is delegated to a ready and willing volunteer!  The chairman will develop the communications via assistance from the board members.  Help awaits you at every turn if you're the type needing that second opinion or let your creativity run wild.  Staff appreciation week is held in May. Staff Appreciation week offers many chances for the students and their parents to show the staff how grateful we are for them.  This is a great committee to chair even if you are a first-time PTA member! 

Talent Show

The Talent Show is an annual production, which allows students to showcase their talents and abilities as individuals or in groups.  Our children work very hard on their extra-curricular activities throughout the year, and the Talent Show gives them a venue to practice performing in front of a group, and to display their skills before a live audience