The Superintendent’s Student Advisory Board is a group of 22 students that represents each class at Frenship High School and the freshman class at the FHS Ninth Grade Center. The group meets throughout the year to discuss things happening around the district, complete community service projects, and they often give Community Tours of Frenship High School and the FHS Ninth Grade Center.
Over the last several years, the Student Advisory Board members have been crafting blankets for cancer patients in the community. This project has always been important to the students and Frenship ISD’s Superintendent, Dr. McCord, but this year the students had a special patient in mind as a recipient of one of the blankets.
MacKenna McNeely, a junior on the Superintendent’s Student Advisory Board, decided that she wanted one of the blankets to go to Kristy Jones, who is currently undergoing treatment at Covenant’s Joe Arrington Cancer Center.
Jones is a Frenship Tiger and formerly served as the media specialist at Heritage Middle School. Last year Jones was diagnosed with stage four colon cancer, which eventually caused her to leave Frenship to pursue treatment. McNeely was a student of Jones, and their families remain close through a friendship between Jones and McNeely’s mother, Amanda Guinn, who serves as the HMS nurse.
This year McNeely and her fellow juniors hand-crafted a blanket that was specially delivered to Jones. McNeely stated that when they started discussing the project she immediately thought of Jones.
“I just thought it would be a really sweet idea if Frenship gave her a blanket so she would know that we still support her,” said McNeely.
The blanket-making community service project is a favorite of the Superintendent’s Student Advisory Board as well as Dr. McCord, because of the personal ties in the founding of the activity.
In February of 2017, Dr. McCord’s mother became ill and was admitted to inpatient hospice care. When the family arrived at the hospice facility, they were given a blanket. Attached to this blanket was a note of encouragement.
“Often a family lives hundreds of miles away from their loved one and shows up to the facility with nothing,” said Dr. McCord. “Then, it is difficult to leave because those moments are precious. You know, the patient already has a blanket on their bed, so it is more of a gift for the family. It just meant so much to me when we received one.”
That blanket made an impact on Dr. McCord, and she wanted to give back what was given to her. For six years now, the Student Advisory Board has made blankets as a community service project. The project exemplifies the Frenship Way SERVE Model that stands for Smile, Engage, Respect, Volunteer, and Encourage. This model focuses on developing servant leaders, instilling positive behaviors in our students and staff, and serving our community at every opportunity.
Dr. McCord has stated that she always looks forward to her meetings with the Student Advisory Board and expressed her passion for the community service project they participate in. “It is one of my favorite things to do as Superintendent,” said McCord.