Jonesboro Rotary Club tours JHS campus

Bennie Pruitt, ambassador for the Business, Communication Arts, and Law Academy at JHS was one of several school ambassadors who took Jonesboro Rotarians on a tour of the school and showcased the school’s many programs.

“I experienced the passion that the Rotary Club has for its partners and fellow businessmen and businesswomen,” Pruitt, a senior, said.

The Rotary Club wanted to tour the school and see what the Academies of Jonesboro High is all about.

Rotarians had requested their civic organization’s members tour the school after a few visited JHS on Bring Your Legislator to Work day.

BCAL Academy Principal Heath Roberts said the first tour must have left a positive impression.

“The members of the club were so impressed that they wanted the entire Rotary Club to see what the academies were doing,” Roberts said.

The club began its tour with lunch provided in the Center for Performing Arts (PAC).

After they held their meeting, student ambassadors presented and previewed each academy to club members.

The student ambassadors talked about each academy: BCAL, Health and Human Services (HHS), and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM).

Ambassadors took the members on a tour of the school showing how each academy is implemented into the school day.

The importance of the tours was to teach the Rotarians about how the academies are organized, and the success of the teaching strategies of teachers in each academy, Roberts said.

“Students reported that the tours went overwhelmingly great,” Roberts said. “Everyone was asking questions. They talked about how the school has changed and how amazed they were to see all the little things that we are doing in the academies.”

Pruitt said he hoped to tell Rotarians about the outside events that the BCAL student ambassadors participate in.

During the tour, Pruitt said student ambassadors received nothing but positive feedback and motivational words from the the civic club’s members.

One student ambassador said he appreciated the respect he and fellow ambassadors received from the Rotarians throughout the tours.

Rotarians also provided valuable insight to student ambassadors during the tour of the school.

Pruitt said the Rotarians paid close attention while the ambassadors were explaining and directing them to each part of the building.

“My advice would be a quote from well-known game show host Bob Barker,” Pruitt said. “‘Change isn’t always good.’ So to the Rotarians, don’t change.”

The Rotary Club’s mission, according to its website, is to “enable Rotarians to advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through the improvement of health, the support of education, and the alleviation of poverty.”

Lisa Golden wrote on the Jonesboro Rotary Club’s website, “Rotary directs its efforts to sustainable projects that promote peace, fight disease, provide clean water, save mothers and children, support education and grow local economies.”

Several members of the Rotary Club are interested in participating on the school’s advisory boards, Pruitt said, and he added that there are numerous opportunities for JHS academies to collaborate with the civic club.