Celebrating Our New Members

Congratulations to the Junior League of Jacksonville's Fall and Spring New Member classes! These ladies have been working hard all year to fulfill their obligations and have made many meaningful contributions to the League. 2011-2012 marks the first year JLJ has ever enrolled two separate classes. We welcomed not only a near record-breaking number of new members, more importantly, we enhanced our organization with some of the brightest, most dedicated women in Jacksonville.


Above: New Spring Members helped host a celebration at Annie R. Morgan Elementary on March 17.

Each year JLJ New Member classes must complete a final project. This year's Spring Class just wrapped up. At two separate events in March, more than 50 New Members came together to plan and execute year-end celebrations at our C.A.R.E.S. schools: Annie R. Morgan Elementary and George Washington Carver Elementarty. JLJ has been working with both schools throughout the year, providing volunteers for one-on-one tutoring in 3rd, 4th and 5th grade math, reading and language during Saturday School. The goal of the extra training is to prepare students to score well on the upcoming FCAT (Florida Comprehensive Achievement Test).

"The events were a great success and brought much joy to the children and their teachers,"says Heather Douglas, chairman of the New Members Training Committee. "The students were thrilled to be rewarded for their academic accomplishments. Great job, New Members!"

The Annie R. Morgan celebration was held on Saturday, March 17 and the George Washington Carver celebration took place Saturday, March 3. New Members, in partnership with JLJ transfer members, worked with school adminstrators to plan and host the celebrations at each school. The celebrations included an awards ceremony, gifts and prizes and a celebratory lunch.


Above: Students enjoyed pizza, sandwiches and cake served up by JLJ Spring New Members.

During the ceremony many students were recognized for their dedication to improve their FCAT scores. Some even attended every Saturday school session! The top 25 attending students were awarded a medal by their principal, and every student received a bag, a book and a chance to choose a gift item donated by the JLJ New Members. The gift pile, pictured below, included everything from footballs to Barbie dolls, Crayola art sets, and more. At Annie R. Morgan the first item chosen was a Florida Gator football -- authographed by former UF head coach Urban Meyer!