Lunch and Learn: schools/business working together

By Patsy Stoddard

The Emery County Business Chamber hosted their first Lunch and Learn of the year and guest speakers were Dallen Skelley of Beehive Homes and Larry Davis, principal at Emery High. Kelly Reid, of the Smoke Pit bbq catered the event.
Julie Jones is the chairman of the business chamber for 2013. She welcomed everyone to the meeting and introduced the speakers. Skelley said he has a great staff and he introduced those he brought with him to the meeting. He opened Beehive Homes in Price five and a half years ago and four years ago he purchased Turnquist in Elmo. “I love Emery County. We make our home in Elmo. We love to be involved and give service to our community. At Beehive Homes that’s what we do is give service every day to our residents. We assist with all the daily needs of our residents. We love being a part of Carbon and Emery counties and taking care of people,” said Skelley.
Larry Davis spoke next, he said he was asked to explain how the programs at Emery High operate along with the support of the business community. “I have been the principal of Emery High for five years. Before that I spent eight years as principal at Canyon View and 14 years teaching language arts at Emery High. It’s very rewarding to work with children and parents and the business community. We very much appreciate the support of the Emery County businesses. We would not be as successful as we are without the support of the businesses. We would not be as competitive. Students have several opportunities to be involved in extra-curricular activities at the school. The school as a whole is only as good as all of the parts including clubs and athletic organizations. There is school board policy on fundraising and we follow those guidelines. There are many demands put on the school district, so these alternative means of raising funds is important. The board provides guidelines for the safety of the students.”
Principal Davis told of a contributor at Cottonwood High that had donated $5 million to the football program and was a football coach at the school also. When their school board said there was a $450 donation limit he hauled all the equipment he had bought to East High and gave it to them.
“We try to limit fundraising as much as possible. Policy states door to door fundraising is allowed in daylight hours only and in groups. Students are not allowed to enter homes, but must wait outside.
“Title 9 requires that both boys and girls sports be kept in balance. We like to see service oriented activities in exchange for funding. There are 22 clubs and organizations that are non Utah High School Athletic Association, there are 14 athletic teams which are UHSAA. We participate in region 15 which includes, Richfield, Grand, South Sevier and San Juan. Everywhere we travel is a long ways. If an organization wants to do a fundraiser they must fill out an application that states their goals, how long the fundraiser will last along with any comments and signed by their advisor. This application is also faxed to the superintendent so they are aware of what’s going on. We get calls all the time from people who want to know where the money is going. Each club funds itself. Some of the sports get the gate receipts and after expenses that money goes to that sport. There is a student activity participation fee the students pay at registration and that money is used to fund organizations and assemblies. They will pay a $25 participation fee for each sport and that money goes into the fund for that sport. The students will only pay two of the participation fees even if they participate in three or more sports.
“Students are required to purchase all other items beyond uniforms. The concessions go to organizations including inside the Spartan Center to baseball and FFA and football concessions go to softball. The banner sales around the football field go to football. The school district doesn’t provide any funding for any of the school clubs, organizations and teams. They will sometimes help the auto mechanics kids go to out of state competitions. The state basketball this year will be held the first rounds at Orem High and the second round at Southern Utah University. Wrestling will spend two days at the Sevier Valley Center and two days at state at the Utah Valley University. Overnight accommodations and meals are expensive. These teams represent our schools at the highest level. The school district will provide transportation to these events,” said Davis.
Principal Davis explained how each year they prepare a list of projects they would like to see completed and the school district helps fund these extra projects if funds are available. Last year they installed new lights for the football field.
Principal Davis went through each sport and explained how they are supported. In girls tennis there is no fundraising and the expenses are met by the participants. They have a budget of $600 for balls. The school district helped with a wind screen for the tennis courts. Cross Country doesn’t fundraise and expenses for uniforms and shoes are covered by the participants. In golf they have a golf clinic which raises money for the team. This money is used to buy golf balls.
Football is a huge expense. Costs add up there very quickly, they receive the gate fees and the money from the selling of business banners around the field. Volleyball receives the gate fees and they sell posters containing the schedules of the sports with business advertising on the posters.
The swim team is the newest sport at the school. They have come a long way and are now in their fifth year. The boys won region last year. Laryssa Guymon placed at state. They sell T-shirts, concessions during the free swim day for the fair and they might begin selling banners to place around the pool. They have a few corporate sponsors so they can purchase swimwear and warm-ups and pay for tournaments. Benefits to businesses include support of the sport and advertising.
Boys basketball sells banners and receives the gate fees. Girls basketball receives the gate fees and donations to the team in exchange for business names on the girls basketball warm-ups. The wrestling team sells Idaho potatoes for a fundraiser. Drill team is expensive to participate in they have sponsors and they put on a 5K fundraiser run during the summer and they charge a gate fee for their spring show. They also cleaned up the Nielson Construction yard for a donation and they help at the county fair and rodeo selling concessions for a donation. Drill team costs each participant about $750 and $20,000 is budgeted for drill.
The baseball team sells gold cards with discounts from local businesses. This money is used for tournament expenses and purchase of new equipment. Bats can cost $300-$400 a bat and the rules for bats change about every season and new bats must be purchased.The track team sponsors the fundraiser where they have the hypno hick come and do a show. The school board is paying for new starting blocks and auto timers for track. The yearbook sells ads in the yearbook to raise funds. The cheerleaders sell products and services and do projects and they are paid for them. FFA sells concessions and they have increased their members and have 65 new members this year.
The UHSAA has a raise the bar banner and Emery High has earned a gold star and is well on their way to earning another one. “It’s all about giving back to our community we have many community service projects throughout the year. The Sterling Scholars sponsor a blood drive twice a year, the student council sponsors a food drive, the honor society cleans the road on SR-29. The student council hosts fundraisers within the school for a fund that helps students at the school. There is a campaign to raise funds to help build a new school in Belize and students are going there this summer to work on the school. We try to support our local businesses wherever we can. Emery High and its stakeholders should support local businesses. We should look local first when making purchases. We try to recognize all sponsors at school events and ask those attending to look around at the signs and be aware of who supports the school and patronize those businesses. We need to do more to recognize these sponsors. I am going to see that these sponsors get notes and letters of appreciation from the clubs and students. We need to follow up with thank yous. The schools represent the community and the county. The school represents all of us and its important for the students to understand that and make our school the best it can be and our business community the best it can be,” said Principal Davis.
Jones thanked everyone for coming and reminded everyone the March lunch and learn will be at night and will be the installation banquet and business award night. This will be a night meeting on March 21 and will be held at the recreation building in Castle Dale. The door prizes were given away next and Phil Fauver won the Emery High hoodie, Dawn Manzanares-won $25 in Emery County bucks to be used at any Emery County participating business. Beth Seager won $25 Emery County Bucks. Jesse Jones won the Nook Color. These winners were from entries from the Shop at Home campaign, watch for cans at local businesses and enter. Drawings will continue throughout the year.