From Friday to today (Wednesday) I went to Nashville, to Clarksville, back to Nashville, to Memphis, back to Nashville, and then to Chattanooga. It was the Tennessee PTA summer leadership training for parents and PTA leaders. What a learning experience but also what an opportunity for service leadership.
Can you imagine taking a week's worth of vacation time and dedicating yourself as a volunteer to traveling in a van from city to city in six days? One can imagine but there is nothing like reality. No one really knows unless it is experienced.
Yes, there is the grunt work. Loading and unloading, sometimes twice-a-day; last minute changes; setting up and then putting back up: the variety of tasks will make you recall that line in your job description: other duties as assigned. Other duties included to keep on going on even after a squirrel ate through a power line, which cut off power to the AC and for the projector.
Yes, there are other sacrifices such as leaving family, sleeping on a hide-away bed, and doing things outside of your comfort level.
But there is the best part, of course, presenting workshops-answering questions-meeting PTA leaders.
There is nothing more important to me and to the traveling team than serving others by sharing information, by imparting necessary knowledge, and giving support.
And the camaraderie among the Tennessee PTA traveling leadership team is icing on the cake.
