Ten Skills I Honed as PTA President
During my first foggy years of stay-at-home motherhood, Mommy brain replaced the quick wit I previously employed as an English teacher. Life suddenly revolved around my brood of four kids under four years old rather than my cohort of rowdy freshmen. Literature started to look more like board books and less like Shakespeare.
My mind threatened to turn to mush in the melee of spit up, swings, snacks, swaddles, strollers, and stretchy pants. It was hard to see beyond the immediate task of making sure my household was fed, clothed, clean, and sleeping. Just when I glimpsed a light at the end of the tunnel (aka all kids attending school), COVID-19 hit and launched us into a blurry year of hybrid learning limbo.
When my youngest child finally entered full-day Kindergarten in 2021, I emerged from the daze of new parenthood. Not looking to return to the classroom as a teacher, but ready to expand my focus beyond meeting my family’s basic needs, I dipped my toe into volunteering with our elementary school’s Parent Teacher Association. Because school took care of my kids for six glorious hours each day, it freed me up to give back to the school community. Now, with five years on the PTA Executive Board under my belt, I couldn’t imagine life without this outlet for my creative energy and the camaraderie formed amongst our team of exhausted yet enthusiastic parents.
The PTA has provided the perfect venue for our lifelong learning, which is one key to a healthy brain and happy outlook on life. While volunteering, we learn something new every day, whether it’s how to estimate ice cream quantities for a Teacher Appreciation dessert bar or how to set up the sound system for the Fun Run. I get to draw from my experience as a teacher and as a mom to foster a joyful learning environment for us all–with the added bonus of keeping my mind and body active in the service of others.
As I wrap up my term as PTA President, I can’t help but reflect on the perks of getting involved at my children’s school. Volunteering does much more than make my kids smile when I walk past their classroom or expand my social circle on the playground. It is a ridiculously fun and fulfilling way to exercise the skills and passions I already have as well as develop new ones. Here are a few of the many skills PTA parents have the privilege to pursue.
Creativity - Our minds love to brainstorm; our hands love to paint. PTA projects provide an excuse to do just that! The incredible set we envisioned and then built for the Pirates! musical production comes to mind, complete with a hoistable Jolly Roger flag and cardboard treasure chest adorned with hot-glued sea shells. As we craft the yearbook, we let the creative juices flow, putting on our graphic designer, writer, and photographer hats. For our annual Spring Benefit, we unleash the party planner within by dreaming up themes, decorations, specialty cocktails, charcuterie boards, and class art projects to auction off.
Computer Skills - PTA parents know how to update website content, generate a QR code, survey a group with a Google Form, design eye-catching graphics and T-shirts on Canva, communicate with families of all backgrounds through the Google Translate app, run an election poll on Zoom, present a PowerPoint deck on the SMART Board at membership meetings, and maintain digital files for the next generation of officers to reference.
Money Management - We issue checks online, categorize expenses, count cash, invest in CDs, and set sale prices to cover our costs yet remain accessible to families of all income levels. At the Book Fair, for instance, we established a Dollar Table full of bookmarks, erasers, and colorful pens to add some fun and affordability to the merchandise selection. When sourcing supplies for events, we incorporate free items–like the accessories from our local Buy Nothing group that stocked our Carnival costume swap, a discarded bulletin board we revamped into a “Vote for Your Favorite Book” station at Literacy Night, and the disassembled pinball machine I found on the give-away table in my apartment basement that kids rebuilt at STEAM Night. When Party City announced its going-out-of-business sale, we stocked up on silly string for the Pep Rally and 30-cent tablecloths, putting each of our hard-earned fundraising dollars to work. We stretch our modest budget to make magic happen.
Project Management - The PTA oversees the execution of 40 events throughout the school year. Executive Board members keep tabs on the many moving parts that go into these events. Committee chairs dream up ideas, set goals, build timelines, delegate tasks, and see each project come to fruition. Afterward, we chow down on leftover snack bar pizza and celebratory cookies and take notes for the following year. (How many pies should we order next time? Was scheduling Picture Day three days before the Carnival too much of a strain on volunteers? Next time, let’s swap out the messy cookie decorating with a tidier craft.)
Relationship Building - To enhance events and other programming, we build community partnerships. This requires a decent amount of schmoozing and negotiating. Local vendors sponsor our school by donating items to our auction, placing business ads in the musical program, hosting activity tables at school events, providing space for parent socials, and scooping out free ice cream for students during the Readathon. We recently hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony with the local neighborhood association, our student government kids, and city council members who helped install custom tree guards in the planters around our building. The 5th graders relished the priceless opportunity to deliver speeches to an audience of community leaders before planting flowers in the tree beds.
Interpersonal Skills - We also interact with our principal, parent coordinator, parent leaders from other schools, teachers, and custodians to address issues and support one another. Executive Board members field questions at PTA meetings and chat about school happenings with fellow parents at school pickup with the goal of making all our members feel welcome and connected. We recruit new volunteers, matching their interests and talents with upcoming opportunities so everyone finds a place to get involved.
Communication - To keep our 400 families in-the-know, we send weekly emails and WhatsApp reminders through our class parent network. We design, translate, copy, and distribute fliers for various events and initiatives. An important component of PTA leadership is acting as a liaison between parents and school administration. We listen to feedback and provide a sounding board for ideas, making sure every member of our community is seen, heard, and known. When appropriate, we usher comments and questions up the communication chain to relevant staff members and then turn around to deliver a helpful reply.
Adaptability: We bring a can-do attitude to the table, no matter what hiccups derail our original plans. When rain threatened to dampen our Morning Mingle, we pivoted and relocated the parent mixer to the media lab. When one local business didn’t show up for an event, we rearranged tables to let other vendors spread out and better engage the hoards of kids interested in their activities. When our principal asked to expand the Valentine’s Bake Sale to incorporate a chocolate bar fundraiser reminiscent of Willy Wonka, we enlisted volunteers to wrap hundreds of Hershey’s bars with our special logo–hiding inside a handful of golden tickets to an exclusive party with the school mascot.
Dexterity - There’s rarely an idle moment in the PTA office. To a casual passerby, it may sound like our room off the main office is simply a place for parents to socialize. However, that would overlook our multitasking abilities! Step inside to find us chatting away as we weed out dried up markers, roll coins to deposit, hang up jackets for the Clothing Swap, and gather caps and gowns for the 5th grade photo shoot. Conversation continues as we assemble storage shelves, pop popcorn, laminate posters, make coffee, and build balloon columns. We tell stories as we inventory and fold T-shirts, test Christmas lights, open mail, and write thank you notes. Next thing you know, we burst out of the office on a mission to hang the International Fest banner on the gate, sell baked goods in the cafeteria, search the building for missing Amazon deliveries, and roll the Lost and Found rack out for parents to pursue after school. Whew!
Time Management - As you can see, volunteer jobs can become all-encompassing if left unchecked. Thus, we work hard to make our Executive Board positions sustainable. We carry each other's PTA duties when we have the bandwidth to do so and ask for help when we need to prioritize our own work, family, or health. We have two recording secretaries, for instance, so they can cover for one another when work travel coincides with their note-taking responsibilities. It’s nice for our kids to see us involved at school, but not to the extent that it detracts from parenting. For example, I encouraged one mom to take the time to chaperone her child’s field trip even though it fell on the day before a school-wide event she was planning. We limit evening Zoom meetings to an hour so we can be present for bedtime. Yesterday, my Co-President, VP, and I prioritized our mental health and friendship by gathering for lunch at home. We intentionally moved beyond PTA business to vent and catch up on life outside of school. The beauty of volunteering is that we can dive in deep when time allows and scale back as needed to maintain healthy boundaries and avoid burnout.
As you can see, the variety of responsibilities and opportunities for learning in the PTA world keeps me on my toes and having a fantastic time. Give an hour to your school community, and you’ll discover even more of the perks that come with working for such a worthy cause.
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