MVP (My Volunteer Pal) program is the volunteer program for all Shawnee Mission Schools. MVP connects adult volunteers with students ages Pre-kindergarten to age 18. Volunteer Pals choose from a range of in- school activities, including:

• Mentoring

• Serving as a lunch buddy

• Classroom or school volunteer

• Sharing special talents or career interests

• Tutoring

• Being a friend who listens

• Overnight chaperones for USD approved field trips

• Chat ‘n Chew

• Watch Dogs

• SCHOOL FIELD TRIPS

Steps to Become an MVP Volunteer (please do these steps in order):

1. Complete an online MVP application.
   
2. Attend a MVP training session. Combined training and fingerprint screening dates are offered on Tuesdays (see schedule below)
3. Drop-in fingerprint screening is available at the Center for Academic Achievement, 8200 W. 71st St., on Mondays and Wednesdays from 9:30a.m. to 12p.m. and from 1p.m. to 4p.m. Finger prints can only be done AFTER attending a training session.

E-mail volunteer@smsd.org or call (913) 993-8750 for more information.

The PTA Reflections Contest is a nationally acclaimed student recognition program to encourage artistic creativity in the classroom and at home. Students of all grades and abilities may participate and explore the arts based on the current year's theme. This year's theme is "Heroes Around Me."

Only new and original works inspired by the theme "Heroes Around Me" will be accepted. Enter in 1 or more of the following categories:

• Dance Choreography
• Film Production
• Literature
• Music Composition
• Photography
• Visual Arts

Go to WWW.reflectionscontest.doodlekit.com for your Entry and Official Rules! Submit your Reflections entry to Rising Star Office by October 15th!

Greetings Rising Star families! I hope you all had a fabulous summer! I wanted to thank you for your contributions to Rising Star PTA last year. We are excited for another year and hope you will continue to support the students, faculty and staff at Rising Star Elementary. As we’re all rushing around preparing for back to school and all the chaos and to-dos this time of year, we wanted to give you an opportunity to get one more thing crossed off your list before school starts! We are excited to have an easy, user-friendly way for you to sign up for PTA. Simply use the link below. Payments can be made by using Pay Pal or by sending cash or check to the address provided on the link. Again, we thank you for your past and future support!!

West is Best Scholarship Fund was founded in 2012 to provide financial assistance to students to participate in after school sports or scouts. Recipients must live or go to school in the SM West attendance area. Over the years, we have provided over 520 scholarships totaling over $56,000 to area youth in all grades, K-12, at all West-area schools. For more information or our scholarship forms, please visit our website at www.westisbestscholarshipfund.com.