Clifford the Big Red Dog comes to the Ron Clark Academy for BIG ideas

Scholastic Media, a division of the global children’s publishing, education, and media company Scholastic Inc., in partnership with HandsOn Network, the volunteer arm of Points of Light Institute, hosted their third annual “BE BIG in Your Community Contest” at the Ron Clark Academy (RCA).

The contest invites children, teachers, parents, and community leaders to submit BIG ideas that mirror Clifford’s BIG ideas and core values including sharing, helping others, playing fair, believing in oneself, having respect, working together and being truthful.   The contest give participants a chance to win $75,000 in community grants from the BE BIG fund to be used towards a winning proposal.  Scholastic Media has gathered more than 1,500 entries from more than 40,000 children, teachers, parents, and leaders. 

“Since the inception of the contest thousands of people of all ages have embraced Clifford’s BIG ideas and turned those ideas into actions,” said Debora Forte, president of Scholastic Media and executive vice president of Scholastic Inc. “Scholastic is delighted to once again provide children and families with an opportunity to improve the lives of others while taking pride in service to their community.”

During the month of February, Scholastic Media hosted several “BE BIG in Your Community Contest” and invited local communities nationwide to participate in their BE BIG in-school events.  On February 21, 2011, Clifford the Big Red Dog visited the students and teachers of RCA to hear what the Academy’s presentation of what it means to BE BIG to serve the community.

Students were divided into their houses, Altruismo, Amistad, Revuer and Isibindi, to come up with service projects that will make a difference in the lives of the community.  All week, students worked with their designated houses to present their ideas to Clifford the Big Red Dog and Scholastic team.  Students were judged on four areas of criteria which included feasibility, creativity, sustainability, and impact of their project.  Students not only were able to earn 25 points for their house, but a chance to have their idea officially submitted to Scholastic.

The students presented a variety of service projects. Isibindi’s idea was Learn Green to Earn Green, which provided an opportunity for the community to learn about the benefits of going green.  Altruismo’s proposal created a partnership with Refugee Resettlement and Immigration Services of Atlanta that would allow the groups to engage and encourage students that are a part of the organization; Reveur hopes to transform the classroom of troubled middle schools and bring a little RCA magic to other schools; and Amistad has decided to show how big they are through small acts of kindness in designing cards that provide inspirational messages distributed globally utilizing the Internet. 

 “We are so elated that Scholastic has decided to come to the Ron Clark Academy to listen to our students share their big ideas,” said Kim Bearden, co-founder and executive director of RCA.  “We always tell our students to think big every day as it pertains to their studies, community, and aspirations.”