News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Jackson County High School hoping to expand its Blue Devils Give Back program.
The community service program started with about 70 student-athletes helping to set up Gainesboro’s American Made Music Fest. Principal Jason Hardy told board members Tuesday night they bused the students over and put them to work assisting the organizers.
“We wanted to help with our community and we don’t want to end there,” Hardy said. “We’d like to do this every fall, every spring, move it from some of our sports teams maybe to some of our service clubs. Just try to get everyone involved. It’s always good to give back to your community and our kids were amazing.”
Hardy said the idea came about because the school places an emphasis on giving back to the community, which is not always at the forefront of the typical teen’s mind. He said the American Made Music Fest was the perfect place to start because of alum Jamie Dailey’s continued support of the school.
Hardy said the admin decided to start with a team of athletes as it would be easier to organize. He said he believes the students saw just how much of a positive impact they were able to have on the community.
“When you have 70 kids working together, and that’s why we had the sports teams because it was easier to organize and we knew this project would take a lot of manpower,” Hardy said. “But the community is always supporting us, especially our sports programs here in Jackson County, so we wanted to give back.”
Hardy said the goal is to eventually get every single student at Jackson County High School to participate in some kind of service project. He said it doesn’t have to be as big of an event as the concert, but even small projects like clean-ups around town will hopefully have an impact.
