It started with a pretend project, a baby drive.
Students in Jen Bargen’s Introduction to Education class at Centennial High School had to choose a community service project for Project Visualize, one of the competitions included in the curriculum, Bargen said. Student Abigaile Walgren took the reins of the project.
“After some time brainstorming, I came up with the vague idea of a baby drive,” she said.
She and her two project partners wanted to gather items new mothers might need. They thought about turning the project into an actual community service project and discussed it at Educators Rising chapter meetings.
“Once we had committees, many posters, and social media posts together, we began the project to collect our supplies,” Walgren said.
Bargen talked to Cara Stoll, director of special services at CPS, to see if there was an organization or group that could benefit from this drive.
Enter SixPence.
SixPence, which is housed at Centennial, is a home visit program for families with children from prenatal to age 3. The program offers support for parents, helping them build confidence “to be the best parent they can be,” coordinator Katie Langner said. “We give the tools and support and coach them.”
It goes through age 3 because that’s when families often start the transition to preschool.
Families don’t have to qualify for services, Stoll said. Program participants need to meet one of the following criteria:
• teen parent;
• orking through an IFSP or IEP;
• ualifying for free/reduced lunch;
• o high school diploma or GED; or
• remie or low birth weight for a child.
Workers conduct assessments to see what they can help with when it comes to child development so when the children start school, they’re on track, Langner said. SixPence’s main curriculum is called Parents As Teachers and teaches parents to use things they already have.
Langner said Seward County is the only place where one SixPence office collaborates with three school districts. Langner works out of Centennial and also serves Milford, with Morgan Kozisek in the Seward district based at Living Word Lutheran Church.
Contact Langner at katie.langner@sewardschools.org for more information about SixPence.
The school contest pitted home rooms against each other Feb. 2-6, with the winner to receive doughnuts. The high school home room winner was Bargen. The middle school winner was Phil Payne.
Because the contest fell during the Southern Nebraska Conference basketball tournament, hosted at Centennial, the students wanted to involve other conference schools, as well.
Bargen said Milford brought supplies, and some community members also donated.
“We wanted the community to be part of this,” she said.
Langner said other drives could look different depending on classroom teachers. She was pleased with the supplies donated to support the program and bring awareness to it.
“I know there are more families who could benefit,” Stoll said.
Bargen said Walgren will take this project to state to compete at the EdRising state convention starting Feb. 23 in Kearney.
“For this project, I mostly wanted to learn how one voice could make a difference,” Walgren said. “I realized that with my small idea, the Ed Rising chapter and I had the ability to help and change many parents, mothers, newborns, babies and so much more lives.”
Walgren said she felt the project was a success.
“We received many donations and got most of the school to participate as a community,” she said.
