Jasper Freshman Addresses Honor Society Advisors at State Event

September 15, 2005

Jennifer Goebel Jennifer Goebel, Jasper High School ninth grade student, was invited to speak at the Texas Association of Secondary School Principals conference held in San Antonio this past weekend to a ballroom full of NHS and NJHS (National Honor Society and National Junior Honor Society) advisors from throughout Texas. She also had a table with a display and notebook from which advisors from throughout Texas could get ideas. In addition, she led the conference in the Texas and National flag pledges. She was the only student invited to speak and share her ideas. Jasper High School Principal Michael Novotny reports that, "The NASSP National Association of Secondary School Principals representative David Cordts was very generous in his appreciation of her contribution and was seated next to Jennifer at the head table by the speakers podium."

DifferenceMaker Award Speech

by Jennifer Goebel

Good morning. My name is Jennifer Goebel and currently I am a ninth grader at Jasper High School in Plano, Texas. It is an honor today to have the opportunity to speak to such a distinguished group of accomplished professionals. It is humbling.

I am here to represent my 8th grade team of NJHS members and advisors and talk about our project, The “Perpetual Resource for Volunteers Foundation”. We were fortunate to be selected the winner of the 2005 DifferenceMaker award, during the National Student Leadership Week. We were given this honor by the National Association of Secondary School Principals.

We feel that all projects are important. While we are proud to be recognized, we honor all of you and the many things that have been accomplished this year by everyone.

Our project was like many of yours in that it included these ingredients: Fun, teamwork, persistence, mentoring, and follow-through.

The project consisted of 4 phases and took 6 months to complete. It’s designed to create a network of over 10,000 students and people that the students can contact to provide a perpetual resource of volunteers to solve the ongoing volunteer challenge for the City of Plano.

In order to do this we had to take baby steps to prove to ourselves we could be successful as a school, and ultimately with all of the middle schools. The entire process has been extremely educational for everyone involved.

Phase I – Letter writing campaign

The idea was to get involved with the City of Plano. On the City’s website there was information about City of Plano representatives going to visit our sister city, Hsinchu, Taiwan. It was that article that inspired us to do a pen-pal letter writing campaign, and deliver letters from our students to the Mayor that she in turn could deliver to Hsinchu on her trip. Originally we wanted to include all middle schools, and if you drop by my table later you can look at the proposal to the Mayor that mentions that. But, coordination was a challenge, and Schimelpfenig ended up doing that project as the sole school.

I do have a funny story that goes with Phase I. Along with my great advisors Mrs. Mullen and Mrs. Johnston, I look to my parents. I told my dad about the idea, and asked him how I should let the City of Plano know about our idea. He said, “call the Mayor”. I said, “The Mayor, are you sure?” You don’t know my dad, he said, “you listen to me Jennifer, Pat Evans may be the mayor, BUT you are the PRESIDENT!” Somehow that made sense to me so I called the Mayor!

Of course I didn’t speak with the mayor directly, but got her administrative assistant. She asked me to write a proposal, and send it to them. When I told my Dad, he was really mad! He couldn’t understand why City Hall had to have a proposal for pen-pal letters to students in our sister city! Nonetheless a day later a letter and proposal was faxed. There was telephone follow up with the Mayor’s assistant, to make sure they received the information. We didn’t hear anything for over a week and a half. The Saturday before fall break, our phone at home rang and it was Mayor Evans calling our home….everyone was gone….except for guess who…my Dad! (luckily by this time he had calmed down). He had a great conversation with the Mayor who was excited about our letter writing idea.

Fall Break was that next week, so I made sure everyone was put on notice, because, the Wednesday after Fall Break was when they were leaving for Hsinchu. My advisors moved mountains and everyone started writing letters on Monday and we delivered the letters on Tuesday. It was very exciting to deliver everything (we included spirit wear along with the letters for our Taiwan friends) to the Mayor’s office.

Phase II – Multi-school involvement at one event

The letter writing campaign was more successful than we ever imagined. About a month later Schimelpfenig was invited to special events with visiting Hsinchu dignitaries and students. We were in the newspaper and on the internet. This success inspired us to try the next step which was to see if we could get 4 or 5 of the middle schools to participate in a group event…to prove to ourselves that we could work together on a small scale.

We contacted the Director of Volunteer Services and proposed the idea over the phone and followed up by email. The difference this time however, was that we had been successful with Mayor Evans, and she gave us the authority to use her name with any and all folks at the City. In fact we then CC’d Mayor Evans on all emails. I think you know how smoothly this went. It was great. Everyone was happy to work together.
We emailed the principals of the twelve schools and explained our idea of having all 12 middle schools work the City of Plano. We then obtained all twelve names of the other NJHS presidents and advisors from those schools.

From that list we invited 7 schools to work together and 5 responded. The event we selected was the “Family First Event” in January. This event was held at the Plano Centre and included Zig Ziglar, Channel 8 news ( so we put that in the email for enticement), Mayor Evans, and many local businesses who were there promoting their products and services and to our delight giving out a lot of freebies. It was a great success getting 5 schools to work together at the Plano Centre. All the volunteers had a tremendous time.

Phase III – 12 Middle Schools volunteer on one project

After having two successful projects we decided to have all the middle schools in PISD take part in a project together. On Feb 4, 10 of the 12 presidents voluntarily met on a Friday afternoon at City hall to discuss the project with the Director of Keep Plano Beautiful. These presidents were emailed, telephoned, and spoke to in person to get them to come to this meeting. It was a logistical nightmare of sorts because gathering this many 13 yr olds who don’t drive, and have all these other extracurricular activities going on was a MAJOR challenge.

Our persistence paid off and if you drop by my table you’ll see the group that assembled that day at City Hall. We selected “Keep Plano Beautiful” because it was already an existing project that was done year after year by the City of Plano. So we did not have to create something new that was unknown. Also, Plano does advertising for this event every year and that makes it more familiar to volunteers. Additionally, there was going to be a picnic/party on the Saturday after the cleanup that would have Radio Disney there for entertainment, and companies like Frito Lay that would provide food. So this was a big incentive for the different schools to participate, because it was going to be a fun time.

All the presidents who were at the meeting with the City of Plano were excited. The city to our surprise wanted us to raise money. As a group we decided to stage a “Kiss the Cow” contest. The school that raised the most money would have the Principal or representative show up on that Saturday and “Kiss the Cow”.

We delegated responsibilities to each President. One president designed signs for the schools to promote the contest; another president wrote an announcement that each school would read to get the students at the schools involved. We tracked our progress by PowerPoint over email.

The big day came and it was great fun. Some other schools even showed up with their mascots at the picnic to show their school spirit. I happen to have the picture of the “Cow kisser” at my table so drop on by. It was a great success.

Phase IV – Establish the committee comprised of the 12 middle schools reporting to the Mayor’s office

Now that we had 3 successful projects we drafted a letter to the Superintendent of PISD. This letter outlined the successful projects that were accomplished. The letter was signed by myself, Mayor Pat Evans, Directors Casey Eckert-Luker and Robin Popik, our principal Mrs. Olga Grosscup and of course our magnificent advisors Mrs. Mullen and Mrs. Johnston. We delivered the letter over Spring Break and personally put the letter in Dr. Otto’s hand.

The committee was approved! The City of Plano representatives and the PISD middle school representatives met and we have targeted major projects to provide volunteers for this year, as well as some minor ones. We are well on our way to solve the problem of providing enough volunteers for the city of Plano. And if anyone can do it, NJHS members and their advisors can!

In closing I want everyone to grab their arms as if they are giving themselves a hug. If you would please close your eyes. Squeeze yourself a little as if you are getting a hug. Because now I am going to take this opportunity to represent all the students you’ve had in the past, the present, and the future, who, if they were here, would be giving you this hug. On behalf of these students I want to say that “we love you”. You inspire us. You have made us better. We’ve laughed and we’ve cried with you. You were there for us when we needed it. You never leave our memory. You pop into our heads at the craziest moments, and thinking of you makes us happy you were part of our lives. We have learned a lot from you. You are teachers, friends, and confidants, and you are the best at what you do. You have made a tremendous difference in our lives. And did I mention that “we love you”.

If everyone could open their eyes and stand. And now for the greatest profession, for the greatest people, for teachers who have inspired you and for your great colleagues here I think it only fitting to give the loudest round of applause for Teachers!