April is National Volunteer Month, so we want to take this time to thank ALL of our wonderful volunteers who help make the Home and School Association possible. Without you, we wouldn't be able to run our concessions during winter sports or the musical, pass out treats for the Turkey Trot or hand out water at the Spring 5K, host a dance for over 450 kids, organize a successful Career Day or pass out treats to our students after PSSA testing. Thank you for all that you do. We will be highlighting some of our volunteers this month. 

My name is Meghan Deaver, and I have 4 children: Elizabeth (freshman at SHHS), Emily (6th grader at SHMS), William (4th grader at NPE), and Westley (attends daycare at Lil' Tykes in Springfield). We moved to this district from Ridley two years ago and I served as a homeroom parent the following year when Emily was a 5th grader at NPE. While Emily was in 5th grade, the SHMS HSA reached out to the NPE PTO letting them know there were multiple open positions at the middle HSA - multiple of which were of interest to me. With four kids and working full-time, I was not sure how much I would be able to dedicate time-wise to the HSA, but thankfully the information provided by the HSA was very thorough and I was able to reach out to several existing members to get more information.

I opted to volunteer as the 6th grade representative for the incoming NPE class and also joined as the Spirit Wear co-chair. Due to an unexpected vacancy, I stepped into the role of Receiving Treasurer as another parent took over my position as one of the 6th grade representatives. Holding multiple chair positions definitely sounded like a lot at first; however, these specific positions allow me to do a lot of the volunteering and organization on my own time - this was very important to me because I wanted to be able to be involved but didn't want to have someone else reliant on my schedule. 

What I love best about being in the HSA is the ability to stay up-to-date with the happenings at school - most middle schoolers do not share the nitty-gritty details of their day, and being a member of the HSA helps me stay informed. I also truly appreciate being able to help give back to the students and staff, whether that is being involved in an existing opportunity (like Career Day, the grade-level dances, and staff appreciation events) or providing feedback for new opportunities (such as voting on an upcoming Eagle Scout project which will benefit the students). Attending the HSA meetings also gives me a "peek behind the curtain" - so much is done behind the scenes for our students and staff, and knowing how much care and effort our HSA puts into each and every thing is astounding. Being a volunteer and being an active HSA member allows me to be a part of that; and being a small part of what makes the school year the best it can be is something I am very grateful to have the opportunity to do.

**Special thanks to Meghan for donating her time and talents to the HSA and contributing to our newsletter!

We need YOU! We are still looking for a Co-Chair for the HSA. This person will serve a 2 year term and oversee the activities of the HSA. You will have all the behind the scenes access to all that goes on at the Middle School and help support our students, teachers, staff and the administration. 

We are getting closer to filling all of our positions! But we still need:

* Panther Pride Coordinator - Work with the PBIS coordinator to get donations of incentives and order panther pride shirts

* Spirit Wear Coordinator - Sell spirit wear and maintain inventory of hoodies, shirts and other spirit wear items. Track inventory in MTK and have pop up sales or provide online shops to promote spirit wear items.

* Teacher/Staff Monthly Appreciation Coordinator - Set up teacher breakfasts on in-service days (usually 5-6 times). Purchase items, set up and clean up in the conference room in the front office. 

* Sports Concessions Coordinators - Purchase concession items such as candy, chips, drinks and pretzels to sell during the winter sports season. This would involve setting up on days when there are home games for basketball and wrestling. This is one of our biggest fundraisers and would be great to get a committee together.

For questions on any of these positions, please contact the co-chairs at shmshsa.chairs@gmail.com

The HSA helped celebrate National Paraprofessionals Day on Wednesday, April 2nd with doughnuts and pastries for our teacher's aides and classroom assistants. We appreciate all that they do to help our students each day! 

Due to Spring Break, our next HSA meeting will be on Thursday, April 24th at 7:00 p.m. in the SHMS Library. We will talk about our upcoming year end activities, get an update on the new Assistant Principal and other school updates. All are welcome and we hope you will join us! 

*May 15th will be the LAST HSA Meeting of the year.*

Spring sports are in full swing! See the link below to see how you can come cheer our students on during their games. 

https://47726.digitalsports.com/

Music parents - Don't forget to turn in your permission slips for Dorney Park (if applicable) BEFORE Spring Break and the Hidden Hollow trip by May 23rd. Check your emails for more information.

Please check out the HSA web page!  In addition to getting up-to-date information on activities, all families have FREE access to the online student directory (you must set up an account). The HSA offers the directory at no cost to our families thanks to our website sponsors. 

SHMS HSA website and directory*: https://shmshsa.membershiptoolkit.com

Online Store: https://shmshsa.membershiptoolkit.com/store

*For additional safety, you will need to create an account to access the directory.

@SHMS Info+

This is the OFFICIAL FB Page for SHMS HSA. It is private and you must answer the security questions in order to join. The SHMS Home and School Association page is a public site for all to see.