Running head: PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Project Description
Danielle Suhr
Admin 591 B
September 3, 2015
Mary E. Carley and Brian Smith

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Project Description
Project Four: Community Relations Plan

The fourth project was centered on creating a community relations plan. A community
relations plan is often focused on getting the community involved in the school. Falcon Middle
School is located just east of Colorado Springs. When the author first began teaching at Falcon
Middle School, she researched the summer opportunities for students provided by the school and
found that the only opportunities were for athletics. The author, who is also the vocal music
teacher at Falcon Middle School, sought to provide a summer program for students were
interested in the arts. During an assembly at Falcon Middle School, a former student and
member of the Young Americans came to present his successes for the students and to promote
the arts. After much discussion, Falcon Middle School requested to host a performing arts
summer camp.
Young Americans. The summer camp was provided by the Young Americans group and
was a 5-day camp with a performance for the community on the final day. This group focuses
on providing music education and performance opportunities to young people around the
world. (The Young Americans, 2015) At the authors parent meeting and through email
messages with other choir teachers, parents, and community members, she realized the
importance of a performing arts camp and became the point person for the Young Americans
Camp.
Responsibilities. Beginning in January 2014, the author began speaking with the Young
Americans group about marketing, promoting, and planning for the summer camp. She in
charge of acquiring a contract from Falcon School District 49, working with the Young
American director to plan building usage and any other requirements, as well as a promoting and

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marketing for student attendance. The Young Americans were required to pay a fee for the use of
the building, custodial services, and utilities during the camp. Once the district paid the custodial
rate and utilities the building rental fee was then put into the performing arts fund. All students
paid a fee for the camp as well as purchasing tickets for the show. Any profit made on the
performance or camp was also donated to the schools performing arts program. During the
camp, the author was tasked to open the building in the morning, answer any questions about the
building or community, ensure the safety of all participants (including homestays), as well as
advising the camp director on procedures, behavior, and camp activities.
Notable Situations. While promoting for the summer camp, communication between
community members, business owners, and district personnel was paramount to the success of
the summer camp. In order to promote through the district website and social media outlets, the
districts communication director had to be notify and informed about the program, he also
required various write-ups and promotional materials to use on the website. It was also
challenging to inform community members through exposure at local businesses. Some business
leaders were very receptive to promoting this camp and others declined because they were
already promoting for other conflicting summer camps. The author also reached out to other
districts and was able to promote the summer camp at district meetings, in other music
classrooms, and at other productions.
During the camp, one family was unable to meet the drop off and pick up timelines. The
author was asked to open the building an hour before the contracted time and stay at least a half
an hour after the camp concluded to make sure the participants and Young Americans were safe.
The Young Americans running the camp stayed with families from the community, also known
as home stays. These home stay families either had children participating in the camp, or were

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tied to the Young Americans by their family members. Most of the home stay situations were
very positive, however, one home stay family turned out to be an unsafe and uncomfortable
situation for some of the Young Americans. This home stay family had a young woman
participating in the summer camp and had two female Young Americans staying with them.
When the Young Americans arrived at the school on the second day of the camp they were very
upset and disturbed by what they had witnessed at their home stay. The young woman who was
participating was refusing to get up that morning and the foster mother was yelling at her and
hitting her. The author and the two Young Americans reported the incident to the authorities and
facilitated a move of home stays for the Young American workers. Later on during the week,
another Young American worker suffered a sever asthma attack resulting the use of a nebulizer.
This worker had two attacks during the week; during both attacks she suffered anxiety fled.
During the first attack she was found in the hallway and the author assisted in bringing towels, a
bucket, and extension chord. She was also required to direct traffic to a new area of the building
to give them privacy. The second attack had the worker outside where she collapsed and stopped
breathing. The Young Americans director found the author and asked for the same supplies as
well as preparing to call for an ambulance. Luckily, the worker was able to become stable with
her nebulizer and assistance from the director and the author. The author then had to take the
worker and director back to their homestays as the evening was well past.
The last notable situation during the week occurred the day of the show. First, multiple
electrical breakers were set off because of the electrical demand of the lighting and sound used
for the production. The author needed to find the breakers and assist in flipping them for the
show. An hour before the show, the breakers still had not been found so they needed extension
chords to get power from other parts of the building. A half an hour before the show started,

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Falcon was put under a tornado watch so the author created a plan for shelter if the area was put
in to a tornado warning. This plan was communicated with building personnel as well as Young
American directors and workers. Luckily, the watch was never lifted to a warning and the show
went on.
Reaction from the community and future goals. During parent meetings, conversations
with other teachers, as well as emails from community members the author was able to survey
about the summer camp experience to improve for the following year. Each group was polled
about three questions; if they thought the camp was successful, if they were interested in
attending or promoting this camp the following year, and if they felt there could be any
improvements made to the camp.
Every person polled said they thought the camp was a success. Some parents spoke to the
increased confidence and acceptance of their children after their experience at the camp, teachers
spoke to the importance of offering performing arts opportunities for students, and community
members enjoyed seeing the positive culture and interest in the Young Americans and the
summer camp. Over 80% of students said they wanted to attend the camp again, in fact, some of
the students signed up to follow the Young Americans to participated in the camp held in
Nebraska the following week. Finally, there were some improvements suggested for the
following years summer camp.
Improvements and Plan for Future. One of the improvements suggested was to change
the performance time. The performance was held on the last day of camp in the evening (around
5:00 pm). This time worked extremely well for some of the families, but the district personnel
were unable to attend the performance. There were also a lot of families who were unable to
attend because of the times. There were also a lot of parents who wished they would have known

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about the summer camp to get their students involved, so a push for better marketing was
suggested. Lastly, there was also a push for more scholarship opportunities for their students to
offset some of the cost of the camp.
Solutions. After speaking with the Young Americans director, the decision was made to
change the times of the camp. Instead of the camp running Monday through Friday, in the
summer of 2015, the camp would be held Tuesday-Saturday so the performance could be on
Saturday to increase the number of audience members. The author also requested the district be
invited to a dress rehearsal on Friday so they could see the benefit of the camp and the
performance from the students. These changes have already been put in place for the summer of
2016 camp.
The author has begun contacting dance studios, theatre companies, and local businesses
to promote the camp for next year to increase student enrollment. The author will be in charge of
more publicity in the community. She will distribute flyers, hang signs, and utilize the yard signs
for the 2015 summer camp. The author will distribute these flyers prior to district 49s spring
break and will follow up in April to check on attendance and if more marketing materials are
needed. The districts communication director will also be in charge of publicity on the districts
website and through various social media outlets.
Finally, the author and Young Americans director have begun talking about scholarship
opportunities for students at Falcon Middle School, who meet a specific criteria, or auditions for
scholarships. The scholarship opportunities will be defined and created by the director of Young
Americans by February 2016. All of these improvements will be made for the 2016 summer
camp.

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Conclusion. Falcon, Colorado does not have many opportunities for students outside of
athletics. In order to increase student engagement in the performing arts and to offer alternative
opportunities for students during the summer, Falcon Middle School hosted a Young Americans
summer camp. This summer camp was organized and supervised by the author who experienced
different aspects of administrative work as well as gained experience working with the
community. This summer camp will be held at Falcon Middle School for the summer of 2016
and the author has taken ideas from community members, parents, and local business for
improving the summer camp.

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I.
Project IV: Community Relations Plan: Young Americans Summer
Camp
A.
Performance and Camp Times: The 2014 summer camp was held
Monday-Friday with the performance on Friday afternoon.
1.
The 2015 summer camp will be held Tuesday-Saturday with the
performance on Saturday. This should increase attendance at the concert and
be a better time for families.
2.
In order to get the district personnel at the performance, they will hold
a dress rehearsal on Friday during normal business hours.

B.

Publicity and Marketing

1.
The author will visit dance studios starting third quarter. She will follow
up after spring break and speak to families about the camp.
2.
The author will send home information to each of her choir classes at
the concert about the camp. She has quarter long classes and see over 200
students a year.
3.
The author will visit elementary schools and high schools in the area to
increase awareness and interest in the camp.
4.
The author will once again send information to all schools in District 49
and contact music coordinators in surrounding districts.
5.
The author has also been in contact with the media to publicize the
camp on the radio, new stations, and through social media.
6.
Brian will contact the District 49s communications director to increase
the camps presence on the website and social media.

C.

Camp Cost
1.
The author and director of the Young Americans will meet in January to
discuss scholarship opportunities for students.
2.
The author will meet with district personnel and examine the contract
for cost to Young Americans to ensure the district is not overcharging the
Young Americans.

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Reference

The Young Americans. (2015, August). The Young Americans. Retrieved from
http://www.youngamericans.org/