Volunteers Needed Oct. 14-24

Hilburn PTA will be staffing the NC State Fair Field of Dreams exhibit from October 14-24! The Field of Dreams’ founder Carl Tart, grandfather of a former Hilburn student, arranged for the exhibit to benefit Hilburn a decade ago. This exhibit includes a coloring contest, mini John Deere tractor rides, rabbits, a turkey and a bonus photo area where families can take a snapshot from their day on the “farm.” Children are invited to spend time on the fair’s miniature farm where they traverse specialty gardens making connections between the food they see growing and the food they love to see on their plates!

Volunteer responsibilities include:

• Stock each table with crayons and an un-colored sheet
• Collect sheets that have been colored and organize by age group
• Judge coloring winners by age group
• Keep the coloring area tidy

There is  free entry and a parking pass for the day for each volunteer.  When you volunteer, you can then enjoy the fair either before/after your shift and avoid the entry fee ($13 Gate Admission) and the parking hassle ($5 for Park & Ride to $20 for private lot).  Parking for volunteers is in a designated area with shuttle service to the fair entrance.  You can pickup your envelope with instructions, parking pass and fair map from the Hilburn front office during school hours. Click here to sign up today! 

Volunteer

How do I register to volunteer at school?
Register at school from 8am - 4pm

1. Bring your identification.
2. Visit a Wake County Public School - front office
3. Ask where in the building you can file your volunteer application.
4. Select Hilburn as a school where you will volunteer.

You can register to volunteer only on a school's computer. All volunteers need to register and pass a criminal background check or renew. The background check can take a couple of weeks the first time, so register early. Renew your registration each start of the school year by November 15. Renewal is fast. Website registration from home is generally not possible for security reasons, COVID-19 may be an exception.
Learn more on wcpss.net >

Give one hour and learn how fun it can be to volunteer for children.
​Let us know how you want to volunteer by filling out the Hilburn Academy Volunteer Data Form. That way PTA, or the school, can let you know when an event you like is coming up. Feel free to contact a coordinator shown below to join a committee.

Volunteer Data Form >​​

Volunteer Signups

Grounds and Gardens

Does weeding or growing flowers and veggies interest you? We need your help! Contact Stephanie, our Grounds and Garden Co-Chair hilburngarden@avett.com

Availability--
Grounds Weeding Crew - any time, any day
Garden Guardians - Limited, during school hours

Volunteer Opportunities

Do you want to volunteer at Hilburn? Below are descriptions of many of the projects and events where volunteers are very much appreciated throughout the year.

List sorted alphabetically

Advocacy - Sofia Lopez-Richert, Advocacy Committee Chair
Attend advocacy events organized by this committee. Use your voice to advocate for adequate school funding, parental involvement, accountability of funds, and help maintain the health/wellness of children which supports students, teachers, administrators, and parents.

Audit Committee (ongoing - monthly meetings) - Shannon Ziemba, Committee Chair, Members: Kimberly Dasher, Rynn Ott, Nissa Byrne - We are required to have a minimum of three members to review the monthly financial records of the PTA. If you like quiet work in a small group, then this might be for you. We meet once per month and have a longer meeting in the summer for the annual review questionnaire. No accounting degree needed, but a love for detail helps. We are looking for a new committee member.

Back to School Picnic - Harmony Waller, VP Family Involvement

Book Fair – Stephanie Avett, Committee Chair
December 2020's Book Fair will be held online. Week long onsite book sale allowing students to explore and purchase for themselves and classrooms. Volunteers set up and decorate, help students select books, check out with cash register app, gather teacher wish lists, and pack up last day.
Coordinator(s) plan with school, schedule with vendor, gather sales volunteers, man the cash registers, and handle accounting. Students LOVE book fair and the school receives tons of books for the library and classrooms from the profits.
​​
Box Tops for Education (Ongoing) – Sofia Lopez-Richert and Nissa Byrne
Volunteers verify, count, and bundle Box Tops for shipment in mid October, mid February, and June. The coordinator manages the programs to collect traditional and electronic Box Tops which raise money for school programs. The coordinator stays up-to-date with bonus opportunities, composes flyers to raise awareness, sorts and bundles labels, ships submissions meeting due dates, tracks tallies, announces standings after the November 1 and March 1 submission dates, and verifies the payouts were received by the school.

Bulletin Boards (Ongoing) – Krizella de Leon, VP Communications
Decorate PTA Bulletin Boards in the teacher's lounge and outside the multipurpose room. Boards have event fliers on display. Middle School Bulletine Boards are maintained by Karen Brown​, VP of Middle School.

Carnival (Spring) / Silent Auction –  Harmony Waller and Ashley Powe, VPs of Family Involvement Hilburn’s Carnival on campus. Volunteers are needed for set up, admission sales, directing arcade games, raffle ticket sales, chaperoning activities, and clean up.

Clubs (Ongoing) – teacher lead - some clubs include parent volunteers
We are lucky at Hilburn to have teacher and parent volunteers organize different types of clubs for our students.
View club offerings listed on the school website Students > Clubs & Organizations.

Corporate Donations (Ongoing) – VPs of Fundraising - VACANT
Seek partners within national and local businesses to help raise funds for Hilburn Academy PTA to support our programs.

Cultural Arts (Ongoing) – Jenny Spencer​, VPs of Student Enrichment
Coordinate visiting artists and musicians during the summer United Arts Council fair to provide students cultural arts assemblies in keeping with the curriculum.

Dance Chaperone  – Jenny Spencer, VP of Student Enrichment & Karen Brown​, VP of Middle School
(separate events for elementary and middle schools)
Middle School - Support Student Council to organize its own dance.

Eighth Grade Promotion Ceremony (June) – Karen Brown​, VP of Middle School 
Work with the school to plan the ceremony/celebration for graduating students.

Grounds and Gardens (Ongoing) – Stephanie Avett and Danielle Smith
Sprucing up and maintaining the campus grounds especially before major events. Areas include flower boxes at the entrance, front of school shrubbery, parking lot shrubbery, school sign shrubbery, and library exit to playground. Also help is needed to water the learning garden during school breaks.

Purple Hawk Awards breakfasts (Ongoing) – Jenny Spencer, VP of Student Enrichment
Works with teachers and guidance counselors to recognize students for displaying outstanding character traits behavior.

Love the Bus - February - Catie Burnette, VP General and VPs of Staff Appreciation, Rynn Ott and Kristin Lane
Encourage bus riders to thank their drivers. Create and deliver token of appreciation for each bus driver. Hilburn has six bus runs named for character traits. Bus Routes >

Membership – PTA (Ongoing) – Membership Committee, reporting to Karen Benson, Secretary
Promotes PTA membership as well as records and maintains all members' records with NCPTA.

Newsletter Hawk Talk (Ongoing) – Maya Chawla, VP of Communications
Hilburn Academy PTA's weekly newsletter. Vaughan is the Hawk Talk editor and writes, edits and designs Hawk Talk stories and submissions about PTA programs and activities, along with news requested by school administration/staff.

Nominating Committee (Ongoing) - 2019-2020 Catie Burnette, Julie Rivera, LJ Van den Troost, Victoria Cater, Melody Council
We look for parents to join the Hilburn PTA nominating committee. The nominating committee is responsible for putting forth a slate of volunteers to steer our PTA’s activities in the upcoming year. Most of this committee's work will come during the spring, as we actively recruit people to fill different roles. As our bylaws state we need a Nominating Committee in place by November 1.

Picture Day - Catie Burnette, VP General
Help students and teachers navigate school picture days in the fall and in the spring. Volunteers help keep students organized and ready during the photo sessions. 1-hour commitment

Printer Ink & Toner Recycling – Kim Hill reporting to VP of Fundraising
We use FundingFactory.com to recycle printer ink and toner cartridges to raise funds for PTA programs. Involves clearing out a box of used printer cartridges, checking them against the current list, and shipping them off to the Funding Factory from the Hilburn main office for reimbursement. Job is at least twice a year, once in November and again in June, and will take about 1 to 1 1/2 hours to complete. Contact Julia Woodward ​call/text 919-345-0480

Room Parent Program - Elementary (Ongoing) - Julie Rivera, Room Parent Coordinator
Sign up with your child's teacher at the beginning of the school year. Share classroom, school and PTA information with your classroom families weekly via email. Organize and lead classroom seasonal Learning Experiences. Serve as the point person for group gifts for teachers and staff on special occasions. Help your teacher as needed.

School Board Liaison - Board Advisory Council - BAC - District 7 - (Ongoing), Kara McLendon and Julie Rivera will serve as our BAC Representatives for 2020-2021.
PTA appointed representative who informs executive board of WCPSS and Board of Education topics or initiatives that could affect our school. Board Advisory Council meetings are made up of citizen members, school administrators and other staff to provide feedback and consultation to each board member by district. Types of School Board Meetings and schedule page wcpss.net/schoolboard

​School Store (Weekly - 7:30 a.m. - 8:10 a.m.) – VACANT
Students practice important life skills using coins and $1 bills to buy novelty school supplies.
School Store is busy every Thursday morning.

Shopping Rewards (Ongoing) - Nissa Byrne
Manages shopper loyalty rewards programs such as AmazonSmile, Harris Teeter-Together in Education, Lowes Foods- Fresh Rewards Cart to Class, and Publix Partners.  Advertise card linking and bonus opportunities and encourage families to participate in these free programs. 

Silent Auction – Julie Rivera
We gather items to auction for the benefit of the school from local businesses and crafts people. Gift cards, gift certificates, products, hand crafted items, etc.

Spiritwear – Julie Rivera
Coordinate with spirit wear vendor to plan orders for t-shirts and magnets, and fulfill orders. Plan to offer spirit wear items for sale at school events such as Popsicles on the Playground, Meet the Teacher, Open House, and Carnival. See our Spiritwear page.

Teacher/Staff Appreciation Week (April or May) – Rynn Ott and Kristin Lane VPs of Staff Appreciation
A week-long event celebrating Hilburn staff in late April or early May. Many volunteer opportunities, crafting themed snack packs, collecting lunch donations at car pool, teacher lounge decorations, etc.  Planning starts in February.

Teacher/Staff Meetings and Special Occasions (Ongoing) – Rynn Ott and Kristin Lane VPs of Staff Appreciation
Provides treats and snacks for monthly staff and teacher meetings and coordinates acknowledgements for special staff occasions including: Back to School, Thanksgiving, Open House, and Staff Spotlight.

​Teacher/Staff Meeting Snack Coordinator - Rynn Ott and Kristin Lane VPs of Staff Appreciation
​Once a month commitment to bring snacks or a cake to the meeting room on a Wednesday afternoon, set-up by 3:30.  It's often the first Wednesday of the month.  The PTA provides the funds for this so it's just the time to shop and deliver the snacks.  We do not stay or clean-up afterward.

Website for PTA (Ongoing) - Jenny Spencer​, VP of Student Enrichment
Maintains and updates PTA website and it’s collection of electronic document files. Support from Nissa Byrne, website creator.