What’s Right With Our Schools: Tyner Academy Food Boxes

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) – Tyner Academy students are getting a valuable lesson in helping their community. And get this, it was all their idea! That kind of generosity is a heart-warming example of what’s right with our schools.

Dr. Tiffany Earvin is the Principal at Tyner Academy.

She explains,” So, the boxes are going to help families in need. This is a Tyner Academy service project. And that’s not just Tyner Academy 9 through 12, but Tyner Academy, 6th through 12th grades. So, in preparation for becoming one full 6 through 12 school, we did a service project together. So, our students are still collecting items for the teachers. So, so far we’ve collected 150 boxes.”

Dr. Earvin continues, ” Here at Tyner Academy, we don’t just excel in athletics and academics. We excel in service projects as well. Giving back to our community, which means that we’re going to send boxes to two elementary schools. We have our own families we’re going to take care of, because we do take care of our own family here. In addition to that, the women’s shelter and Salvation Army. Well, the lesson in and of itself is that community gives to us all of the time. I’ve got friends in the community. If I call them, they’re going to give. I want my students to learn the same lessons. It is always better to give than to receive, is what I was taught. So, the same thing is present here. Students need to learn, have a helping hand, help somebody else out. Right? There’s a beauty in giving back to others.”

Chari Ryan is the Senior Class President at Tyner Academy.

She says, “As class president, I feel like that we should give away during Christmas because Christmas is a time for family. Most people don’t have family. Most people don’t have a home. So, we’re bringing home to them. So, I feel like as a group we needed to do 212 boxes.  That’s what originally it was called. And we were going to try to get 212. So, we settled for 100 for the first time because this is our first time doing it, and we got more than 100. We got 150 and more to come. So, we did this just to help out during the Christmas time.”

8th grader Jayla Sanders chips in, “Because it’s kind of the heart when you see people struggling, it’s kind of like to help them to get them back together.”

8th grader Mya Johnson adds, ” It’s good to give back to the community because the community has given back to us so many times, more than we can count. So, I feel like it was a good idea for us to do.”

Chari Ryan concludes,” It’s always a time to donate. You don’t have to donate, just doing around Christmas. So even if you feel like it’s July, middle of July, you can always donate to anybody. It’s always good to help somebody.”