Panda Team recognized for community service work
By Marcy Horwitz CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Bailey Bridge Middle School's Panda Team recently received a "Teams That Make a Difference" award from Pearson Prentice Hall and the National Association of Middle Schools. Team members include (from left) Matthew Fuquay, Lindsay Driscoll, Nita Saunders and Thomas Chappell.

Four teachers from Bailey Bridge Middle School are making a difference in the lives of their students and in the Chesterfield community.

Bailey Bridge's Panda Team - comprised of teachers Nita Saunders, Lindsay Driscoll, Matthew Fuquay and Thomas Chappell, who oversee 100 sixth grade students - is one of only four teams across the country to be honored with the "Teams That Make a Difference" award. The award is sponsored by Pearson Prentice Hall and the National Association of Middle Schools, and will be presented at an annual conference in Nashville, Tenn. this month.

The Panda Team won for its work in helping young people connect with their communities.

Each of the Panda Team's leaders is a committed volunteer. Driscoll is a mentor at Bailey Bridge and helps rebuild homes in the Petersburg area with Tri-Cities Workcamp. Fuquay is a mentor at the school and is involved in Big Brothers and Big Sisters in the Richmond area. Chappell volunteers with his church in Chesterfield County. Saunders has participated in the Run for Hope and is also the chairman of the hospitality committee at Bailey Bridge.

Because of their commitment to volunteerism, the Panda Team's leaders wanted to inspire their students to become similarly active in the community. To that end, they helped the Pandas create exciting and innovative opportunities to serve.

For the past four years, the Panda Team has coordinated "Connecting Young Adolescents with Communities," a series of activities that reached across Chesterfield County and beyond.

As part of the program, students created a reading partnership with kindergarten classes at Amelia County Elementary School. They raised money for the Red Cross and collected books for a Mississippi school demolished by Hurricane Katrina. Bailey Bridges' young people packed lunches for Habitat for Humanity volunteers. They sponsored a dance to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. They built the Panda Garden to beautify the front of their school. They shared Mini Pages with Crenshaw Elementary third grade students. They even took to the screen by participating in a Virginia State Police recruitment video and pamphlet.

Saunders, a sixth-grade language arts teacher who has led the Panda Team for the past four years, attributes the group's success to many factors. The teachers' bond with the students is certainly one factor. Teaching the young people responsibility and leadership roles is another. Creating service opportunities that are both innovative and meaningful is a third. Generous doses of praise and encouragement, along with "before and after" pictures and videos, helped maintain the group's morale. Donald Skeen, Bailey Bridge's principal, is

proud of his students - and of the teachers who inspired them. "These teachers demonstrate a fine example of what middle school teaching is all about through their implementation of instructionally sound teaching practices," he said.

"It is great to be recognized for doing something that we truly enjoyed," added Saunders. "Our motivation was to involve the students with the community, and the award was a welcome surprise!"

Perhaps the highest praise of all comes from the mother of a former Panda Team student. As a result of their service work, says Susan Atkins, the Panda Team learned "kindness, caring, love, support, integrity, and a sense of community."