You see them around in the Grant High School hallways. You’ll hear about them organizing fundraisers and coordinating our dances. They can be found in the library, the office, the College and Career Center, the home sports games. Their names are heard around the community, receiving praise and honorable mention. Yes, you see them. But do you know who they are? Can you place their names with their faces? Do you know the people who donate so much of their time to our high school without thinking of taking any credit?
“I can’t imagine getting so much done here without the parent volunteers,” says Principal Vivian Orlen.
Meet three of Grant’s parent volunteers who never cease to step up to help our community, our neighborhoods, our high school.
Jen Xochihua: Four years strong
Tyrone Harvey: team supporter
“After querying many of the athletes it’s like, ‘Wow, you didn’t know there was a career center?’ and they say, ‘No’,” Harvey says. “I’ve talked to a lot of the football players and they’re like, ‘We have a career center?’”
Harvey wants to make sure that athletes are making sure school is a top priority, not just putting all of their focus into their sports. He isn’t afraid to tell kids that if they are going to play sports, they had better get it together in the classroom.
“You could really be an average athlete and be a 4.0 student and get an athletic scholarship. And then you could be a great athlete and a horrible student and not get a scholarship,” Harvey says. “There are more people that are horrible athletes and great students that have a more successful life. Sometimes, you’ve got to look at your GPA and decide on the value.”
Harvey wants these particular kids to “un-center” themselves so they are open to the idea that they don’t always have to play sports. “It’s kind of fun seeing kids get more mature, more ready for the world,” Harvey says. “And I get to be part of it.”
Karmen Von Arx: Volunteering from the heart
Since her sons were in kindergarten, Karmen Von Arx was always the “fun” volunteer around school. She was the one who helped organize the Halloween parties in elementary school. She helped with the auctions. She chaperoned all of the dances and organized the eighth grade graduation in middle school.
“I had more fun volunteering for the fun things,” Von Arx says. “I just decided I want to do the fun stuff.”
Von Arx isn’t just in it for the fun; taking part in her community is something she learned to do growing up. “I honestly really enjoy this community,” Von Arx says. “You become a part of it.”
Von Arx moved around a lot as a child. She was the oldest of six children and was influenced by her parents’ volunteering efforts for their church. Every Monday night, the family would take part in some service event, such as feeding the poor.
“Service was a big priority in our family; my parents did the same thing,” she says. “I think it’s when you see it, you become it. I want that for my own children. I want them to be a part of their community and feel that camaraderie that comes along with it.”
Today, she’s involved at Grant because of her sons, Trevor, a junior, and Austin, a senior. She also volunteers at Beverly Cleary-Fernwood school, where her third-grader, Max, goes to school. Von Arx and her husband, Eric, help coach sprinters for the Grant track team, and she’s youth group leader at her church. In her “free time,” Von Arx is an interior designer.
It’s a juggling act being a mom and an active volunteer. But Von Arx says once you do it more every day, it becomes easier. People worry about being too busy to volunteer, she says. “But really, once you have done it for so long, it’s not that hard,” she says.
Von Arx has volunteered at schools for 13 years, and she has been able to see the kids in the community grow from start to finish.
“I planned their kindergarten parties and now I’m planning their senior parties. It’s come around full circle,” she says. “They all have the same exact personality that they did in kindergarten. One of the reasons why I’ve enjoyed this so much is because I really, really like the kids.”
Her message to those who are considering joining the volunteer ranks? “Volunteering should really be something that’s given from the heart,” she says.