Downtown Jubilee. He agreed that it would be a good opportunity to show off our programs and meet some people who may not know about the Career and Tech Center. With Dr. Craven’s approval, I set out to organize. My main focus was to promote and advertise what we offer students at the Grenada Career and Technical Center. The best way to do that is to simply SHOW the people. I asked that each class (seven in all) prepare a plastic board that advertises what its class teaches, pictures of the students, and anything else that shows the general public why its class is an important one. With the teachers and their students preparing their class materials, my next step was to get promotional materials together that cover the entire center in a form that the people could take with them. I decided on two paper materials, a Z- Fold pamphlet and an 8.5-in. by 11-in. full color folded lea¾et. These would list all the classes and descriptions, as well as have essential contact information. The teachers’ names and the phone number to the Career and Tech Center would be listed for any future contact the people may need. I wanted one handout with contact details and one handout to catch the eye. One thing that people, kids especially, want when they visit a booth is something to take away with them. I located some promotional materials from years past: carpenters’ pencils, two types of ball-point pens, and some rubber bracelets. I simply went looking around the Career and Tech Center and found everything I needed. I knew that the free things did not need to be fancy. They just needed to have our Career and Tech name on them…and they all did. So, we spent zero dollars on the give-away items for this jubilee. On the day of the Downtown Jubilee, I arrived at 7:00 a.m. and signed in. I drove to my booth location and proceeded to set up my booth. After the awning, banner, and table were in place, I set up the boards that the teachers and kids made as well as the promotional materials. As the day went on, more and more people came in and wanted me to tell them about the Career and Tech Center. It was surprising to me the number of people who did not know about what we offer. I took great pride in telling them about our programs and what we offer to our students. Many people left my booth with a better understanding of the Grenada Career and Tech Center; more importantly, many kids and parents learned about the Career and Tech Center. Hundreds of people walked away from my booth reading our materials, with a pen in their pockets and a rubber bracelet on their wrists. Your programs are only valued by people who know about your programs. If a person in your community does not know about your programs, he or she does not care about your programs and what they can offer to students. You and your center should use every opportunity to educate the public about what you do. You will be surprised by the number of people who would have been your allies much sooner if they only knew about your programs. If I learned one lesson while manning and organizing this booth it is simply this: It is my responsibility as a teacher to do what I can to ensure that the value of my program, as well as the other programs at the Grenada Career and Technical Center, are known by every member of this community.
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