Unaka Key Club recognizes faculty members with waffle bar, cards
Published 5:11 pm Wednesday, May 3, 2017
Consider a heaping helping of love from the student body of The Creek.
Unaka High School Key Club members have stayed busy this week giving back to their teachers and faculty at the school in conjunction with National Teacher Appreciation Week by hosting different activities and providing tokens of appreciation.
It started off Monday, May 1, as the Club provided a waffle bar for teachers. On the following day, teachers were presented with specialized cards that thanked them for their efforts in the classroom.
“We put a lot of thought and detail into the cards and the waffle bar,” UHS Key Club President Jaida Walters said. “We personalized each card for each individual teacher to make it special. It was just really great to be able to give my time and effort back to the people that put so much into helping our whole student body learn. Our teachers are always pushing us to do our best and I’m glad we were able to show how much we appreciate them.”
The tokens of appreciation did not go unnoticed by UHS staff, either.
“Sometimes we forget that students are paying attention and do appreciate what we do,” Jason Ward, English teacher, said. “Thanks for reminding us why we do this.”
Sincerity from the students made the whole experience worthwhile, according to librarian Lynn Honeycutt.
“On a rainy Monday morning, a sweet treat like a waffle bar is such a blessing,” she said. “More importantly, it was so nice to have the students greeting us with a smile. The cards today were so sweet and the special personalization was an added bonus.”
Suzanne Averill, math teacher, seconded Honeycutt’s sentiments.
“The waffle bar was a great start to a Monday morning, and the kids were having fun,” Averill said. “The cards were very nice and the individual names were a special touch. Thank you.”
UHS Principal Betsy Oliver was also on the frontlines for giving students a special thanks for their work.
“Thank you so much for the wonderful waffle bar for the teachers. It was delicious,” she said. “Many times teachers are overlooked and not appreciated for the amount of time and effort they do to help students achieve their goals. It is great when an organization such as the Key Club appreciates their efforts.”
The Unaka Key Club members are no strangers to staying busy. Under the guidance of teacher Kayla Clawson, the group recently came away with a bevy of awards from the Tennessee-Kentucky Convention just months ago and stay active in the community with various projects.
But when it came to their most recent endeavor, senior Key Club member Chandler Thomas said it was a no-brainer.
“I think it is important that we give back to our teachers because they do so much for our students and they deserve so much recognition,” Thomas said. “Our main goal of this project was to let our teachers know that they’re appreciated for everything they do and that we wouldn’t be the students we are today without them.”