Roanoke’s Silver Rangers making connections and serving their campus
Roanoke’s Silver Rangers making connections and serving their campus
Grandparents’ Day is September 7, and to help recognize the bond between students and all the special people in their lives, Northwest ISD campuses are celebrating in various ways. One group in particular, the Silver Rangers at Roanoke Elementary, is extra engaged in their celebration.
Created in 2021 by the Roanoke Elementary PTA, the Silver Rangers is a group of grandparents who join the PTA with a desire to build stronger connections with their grandchild’s campus. They volunteer throughout the year and enjoy perks that are exclusive to Silver Rangers, including reading to classes on Grandparents’s Day.
“I love reading to the kids,” said Jill Boeth, grandmother to two Roanoke Rangers. “They’re so happy to see you. They look forward to it and they always ask if you’ll come back. They ask if they can call me GiGi, and it puts the biggest smile on my face!”
In addition to the Grandparents’ Day celebrations, Silver Rangers also have an exclusive lunch in the spring, plus they are honored at the campus’ end of year Roanoke Round Up pep rally.
The Silver Rangers proudly sport their special T-shirts when they are on campus, and in its five years of existence, the program has grown to include more than 60 members.
“The program started as a way to reach new people who we thought would want to be involved on our campus,” said Roanoke PTA President Brittany Dosch. “Now, our Silver Rangers are loving it so much that they volunteer at all of our events, not just Silver Ranger events.”
Thanks to its initiative to reach an all new audience, the Roanoke PTA is a multi-time winner of the Texas PTA Generations Award, an award given to PTA chapters that are exceptional at involving grandparents on their campus.
“Grandparents can have such a great impact on a child’s education,” said Lisa Sullivan, a retired teacher who has two grandchildren at Roanoke Elementary. “Volunteering on campus gives me a purpose. I love serving the kids and the teachers.”
Programs similar to the Silver Rangers are also in place at other Northwest ISD campus PTAs. To see if your campus has a similar program, please reach out to its PTA officers or campus staff.