Acknowledgements  

Before I begin this article, I would like to greatly thank Mrs. Horn for taking the time to thoroughly answer my interview questions for Be the Change. Your dedication and inspiration are the foundation of this piece, and I couldn’t have finished this without your support. 

Introduction  

Be the Change is Lincoln-Way West’s version of a key club, which is offered at Central and East. The club has been committed to community-based services since West’s founding in 2009 and has been under the name Be the Change for approximately 4-5 years. Its primary goal is to provide students with an opportunity to inspire, and in turn be inspired, by giving back to the school community and local communities by helping those in need and supporting those in our community who continue to support us every day. Karla Horn, a Lincoln-Way school district teacher of 19 years and sponsor of many activities at West, such as coaching Varsity Girls’ Tennis, Assistant Dean of Students, Science Club, and the National Honor Society, sponsors this activity and agreed to sit down with me for an interview. When the position to run Be the Change was posted last spring by the administration and activities director, she applied and eventually took over as sponsor. With new leadership, the club has led three major endeavors over its first semester, including the Gold-Out football game with Cal’s Angels, Thank You Bus Drivers, and sponsoring a family as part of the Holiday Sharing Program during the holidays in collaboration with the PPS Department.  

Be the Change stands out from other clubs and activities at Lincoln-Way West in that students are able to directly help fellow community members and give back to those who have given up their time to support our communities both directly and indirectly. Be the Change is significant in many valuable ways, but it is of great importance in that students are able to serve their communities in a personal way. 

Interview  

KH – Karla Horn 

LC – Lucas Coyle 

LC: What is your favorite part of running Be the Change?  

KH: I would say, having this front-row seat of watching our kids, our students, be excited about giving back to the community.  What a great opportunity for me, as a professional, to be able to spend my days with these amazing students, watching them be inspired and excited about giving to others. I mean, I’ve hit the jackpot on careers if that’s what I get to do every day.  And it’s just so beneficial and wonderful to be a part of that. I would say, personally, for me, my favorite part of running Be the Change is just to be in that position to watch our amazing students doing what they’re doing and be excited about the different opportunities to give back. It’s all about showing appreciation and filling the buckets of those around us.  It’s a chain reaction.  So the more we fill the buckets of those around us, then those people have that ability and that inspiration to fill the buckets of other people. It just leads to a great chain reaction of just fulfilling lives and connecting us with our school community and our greater community in just positive ways that just continue to give and give and give as a domino effect.  I just think that’s so cool to be a part of that and to watch our students actually initiating that with their leadership as the members of Be the Change. 

LC: What is your opinion on the group?  

KH: I just think so highly of the kids at West and our group’s mission. I mean, this is just the greatest place on Earth and I really feel that way. I know it sounds cheesy, but that’s truly how I feel.  I’ve been here at Lincoln-Way 19 years and I’ve been at West since the beginning, and all the kids in the Lincoln-Way community are just phenomenal. To be here at West; there’s just nowhere else I’d rather be.  So my opinion of the group is just incredibly high of the group that we’re running, the kids that are in this group, and the staff and the support of the people in the building for our group. I learn just as much or more from my students every day, as a teacher and a sponsor of Be the Change, as I think my students learn from me. As much as I would hope that I’m teaching students and inspiring students, the reality is a lot of us do this because we’re being taught and inspired by our kids, and there’s no greater or higher opinion you can have of your students when you feel that way. I’m just grateful to have the opportunity to lead this group.  

LC: How much support has both the faculty and students here at LWW shown to Be the Change?  

KH: So supportive! Again, this is why the school is so great. I mean, there’s an enthusiasm and a genuine care that everyone shows for one another and the programs and the goals of the school.  That’s certainly true in every aspect and certainly true in Be the Change too. We currently have 58 students signed up on our Teams Page.  Students have approached me and other Be the Change members throughout the year, inquiring about the club and how to get involved. Students are very supportive, very interested, and very enthusiastic about it.  The faculty is always willing to team up with Be the Change.  Different groups are willing to work with us, hear our ideas, and offer ideas. Many faculty members came and bought shirts at Cal’s Angels’ Gold-out game. You know, that’s them paying for shirts out of their personal money too.  There’s a lot of different initiatives they can be a part of and give back to and they’re always very eager and excited to be a part of what we have to offer. There’s a tremendous amount of support around here for Be the Change.  

LC: What was your most successful initiative this club has run this school year? 

KH: We’re in the end of January.  We’re really about to get started with more opportunities for this semester, but that puts us a semester in, so our initiatives are all pretty much from first semester at this point.  

I think they were all successful for different reasons. Uniquely, each initiative gave us an opportunity to show collective support, appreciation, and generosity in different ways.  

On of our three big initiatives for first semester were the Gold-out football game to support Cal’s Angels, which is a pediatric cancer awareness foundation.  They work with kids in the local community, and we actually have the opportunity to give back and to raise money for Cal’s Angels for kids that actually live in our town, for kids who are affected by childhood cancer, and  who are currently elementary school age students in our town.  Some of them will be here at West in a few years. I mean that’s just so inspiring and just such a meaningful cause.  

Granting wishes, raising awareness and funding research to help kids fighting cancer.🎗️ Thank you to all of our Warriors who supported the mission of Cal’s Angels and our first ever GOLDOUT! #LeadTheWay  

-lw210.orgThe energy behind the entire student body, having the opportunity for all of these kids to give back by simply buying a shirt, buying that shirt, having that shirt just kind of unifies the student body, gives them something that they can wear to show awareness and support for pediatric cancer; then the money that they spent on those shirts, it financially gives back to those families, and just to get the entire student body involved. At an exciting event like the school’s football games on a Friday Night Light’s, the large encompassing energy that came from that, made that {Gold-out football game} the most successful event in some ways.  

Cal’s Angels  

Cal’s Angels is a foundation based on helping children who are fighting cancer and their families. Through donations, the foundation is able to raise money for pediatric cancer patients and bring hope to them and their families. Their mission statement states, “It is our mission to grant wishes, raise awareness and fund research to help kids fighting cancer. Your continued support helps us achieve our mission and we are grateful to every one of you.” 

Until we hear the words “There is A Cure for Cancer” we will continue to fight on behalf of these young warriors and their families. We ask you to join us in the W.A.R. on pediatric cancer… together we CAN make a difference!”  

Please consider donating to the foundation! They do an amazing job in funding cancer research, and helping many who are facing childhood cancers: calsangels.org 

LC: How did both the viewers and Cal’s Angels members respond to the football game? 

KH: The Cal’s Angels kids are kids that have or have recently fought cancer. The event was put on for them, their parents, their siblings, and any other close family members that they wanted to involve. Those children and their families were able to come to the football game and sit in the end zone, and then be announced at halftime and meet the football team, coaches, the poms girls, and the cheerleaders; then be cheered for by the student section.  They got a lot of opportunities to meet students and some staff at the game. They also got gift baskets from the Activities Department with just West gear, especially since they’re mostly local. Those students and their siblings got Warrior gear and a gift basket of goodies. They were so appreciative.  The kids were so excited;  kind of awe-struck by our students.  And their parents were just as excited to see their kids so happy. They felt very supported by the community. The parents were just overwhelmed with appreciation. Just to see the small ways the students can come together and give back is just impressive.  Sometimes it doesn’t take much: buy the shirt, put it on at the game, or cheer on these kids. It made their day, and I think our students saw how powerful just a little bit can be when everybody does it together (It’s not so little. It becomes something big). It was very, very well received.  

KH: The Thank You Bus Drivers was our Thanksgiving-time event where we gave small gifts of appreciation back to our bus drivers. Bus driving is a tough job.  You have to worry about the safety of the kids, you’re driving this vehicle, you’ve got routes, you’re on time crunches, and there are trains all over this neighborhood.  It’s very unpredictable with traffic and weather to make these times, and you also have students and their well-being to consider.  There is a lot going on on a bus. These people are here at our school every day and they get to know our students and yet often times they don’t even step in our buildings, so I feel like they’re so connected to us, and yet they might feel so disconnected. What was cool about Thank You Bus Drivers was that our students in Be the Change not only put these packages (thank-you packages) together for the drivers, but then our students hand-delivered them on the busses, creating this personal connection with these drivers that they’re missing out on, and they really are connected to us. It just kind of helped symbolically to show that to them and give them that experience that, “Hey, here are the students thinking of you and from person to person, here we are handing you this to say thank you.” So, very opposite of the Gold-out in that this was a very intimate, personalized way of giving back, unlike the Gold-out which was amazing because it was large-scale and you felt the energy from that. But this was cool in a totally different way.  

Thank You Bus Drivers  

In honor of Thanksgiving, Be the Change delivered thank you bags with thank you cards, treats, and other items to bus drivers who travel to West every day. It gave the bus drivers, who are often overlooked members of the school district and still hold an important job, a gift of appreciation to show that their work is valued by those at West.  

KH: Our third event was showing generosity to a family by giving back with the Holiday Sharing Program, which was also unique because Holiday Sharing is not run through Be the Change.  It is conducted through our PPS Department. So, this was something that we didn’t take the initiative on, but we jumped on board for another school activity, which is cool to just support that and be a part of that in an effort to give back to a family in the community in a way that is perhaps more needs-based. Kids are excited about the holidays.  There’s a lot of energy, and it’s important to sometimes remember the meaning behind the holidays and why it matters. This gave kids an opportunity to be able to be a part of the bigger meaning of the holiday season and do it right in their school and for their local community. So, to be able to do that right in our building where the meaning of the holiday is at its core was a fun experience.  

Holiday Sharing Program  

The Holiday Sharing Program allowed Be the Change (its sponsor and its students) to adopt a family from the surrounding community for the holiday season. They are given a list of related items to possibly purchase for each family member and wrap those gifts to be given to the family around winter break. The purpose of the program is to give to those who may not be as fortunate as ourselves, and uphold the holiday tradition of giving to one another. Students were given the opportunity to take part in that tradition and carry it on outside of home.  

Conclusion  

LC: What additions would you like to Be the Change?  

KH: I have lots of ideas. The problem with ideas is that you really have to then think all the way out to when your ultimate goal would be completed and then think backwards as to when you should start .  The school year goes fast.  Student involvement would be August to May.  You aren’t going to get much student involvement over the summer.  Maybe eventually, but you have to organize for that. That’s my negative take on that.  There’s so much to do, and so many things to look forward to for things we can do, but you really have to plan it out carefully. 

We are looking to do something school-wide again sometime in the future.  Something active and competitive presented in a fun way brings together students and staff. We have a few ideas circulating around right now to see how this vision can play out.  

LC: What do you hope to accomplish in the future? 

KH: We have lots of exciting ideas circulating, focusing on something that gets staff and students together; something fun, competitive, and active to continue building networks within the community. When I was the National Honor Society sponsor, I built some networks with some different organizations and schools in the community.  We did a lot of different projects such as tutoring in local schools, which was really successful. We want to continue things like that for Be the Change because NHS, like Be the Change, is community-based service.  So, there’s a little bit of spill-over that works for both by bringing  some of those connections from NHS to Be the Change, maintaining those connections, and building more connections to the community outside of Lincoln-Way. Then, also continuing school community projects like when we did the Thank You Bus Drivers.  That was giving back within our school community, and I think that’s very valuable too. The value is in working both of those networks, creating a network of ways of giving back in the community, having contacts in the community that we can work with, and then giving back to these contacts in events we can have here in the school. Bringing both the community and the school together is a very powerful combination. 

LC: Would you want more members? 

KH: Yeah! I would gladly take more members in Be the Change. In my opinion, the entire student body is already in Be the Change. It’s just a matter of if and when you want to show up. Students have different commitments throughout the year.  Sometimes in a year you might have a lot of availability for one event and other times you don’t, and that’s okay. We’re not looking for any certain kind of commitment.  We do have a point system because there does need to be some sort of integrity as to saying I am in Be the Change or I’m not. Loosely, I’d say that every student at West is, and I sincerely mean that. But it’s going to go on transcripts for some kids and not others. So, where’s that integrity? Where’s that line of saying that I’m officially in the club? That would be gathering eight points throughout the year.  So, coming to a meeting is a point, helping out at activities is a point (depending on how much help you could get multiple points for different activities).  Basically, every time you show up and do something or you come to a meeting you get a point. Accumulating eight points throughout the year puts it officially on your transcript.  You’re on the official roster.  

We’re at 58 members right now.  Of course, I’d want more members, and we’ll take anybody any time of year. On the unofficial roster, because I keep track of both, I’ll just keep adding names.  We could possibly add every student at West on the roster for Be the Change. But then what I officially submit for transcripts, you’d have to gather those eight points by the end of the school year.  

Yes.  I’d want more members, whoever and whenever they can make it.  

LC: Any other thoughts/ideas? 

KH: The cool thing about Be the Change is that it can be whatever the students have as a vision for the club. We’ve got a pretty obvious goal of giving back, of paying it forward; being the change.  It’s literally in the name of the club; Be the Change! From there you can go in a lot of directions. So that, I think makes us unique. I don’t always know what direction we’re going to head from year to year.  I’ve got my goals for this year and the next year kind of working. But who we’ll be in five years and what we’ll be doing in five years is totally different; totally something that I wouldn’t have seen coming.  That’s kind of neat depending on what the students want this club to be; just making the world a more positive place one step at a time and inspiring others.  I’ll go back to my metaphor about inspiring and feedback loops. In science we talk about positive feedback loops and negative feedback loops. That idea that variable a leads to variable b leads back to a. It is this perpetuating cycle that is self-ran based on how these two variables work together. One variable here would be the Be the Change students and the other variable would be the community, the school community, and the greater community. If we can inspire those around us and what we do for them inspires us in turn, and our students get more inspired and give back and inspire others, then it just continues as a feedback loop. That’s, I think, ultimately the purpose of what we’re doing, and I that’s what being the change is in the entire world. It’s passing that inspiration on and getting reinspired by and just keeping that feedback loop going. We can do that in so many ways and so many visions; it’s just what the students want to make of it, which is awesome.                                                                                                                                                                                                  

Project Fire Buddies: Pickleball Tournament 

The Pickleball Tournament benefitting Project Fire Buddies was a collaborative effort in conjunction with Be the Change. PLEASE consider signing up for a team next year (even if you don’t know how to play, do not worry, no one is judging). The event  was held last month and was a great success. Also make sure to donate to Project Fire Buddies. 

Afterword  

If any of you have made it this far into the article, I congratulate you. Be the Change is a club at West that makes a big difference in our community, whether large or small, and is always open for support. Whether it is attending charitable events, donating to charities, or even becoming a member of clubs like Be the Change, we can make a difference in our communities, one step at a time.  

Many thanks again to Mrs. Horn, who took much time to respond to my interview and questions, giving me an in-depth perspective on the club and its goals.  

Also, thank you, my readers, who took the time to learn about one of the many facets of life in the Lincoln-Way community.  I greatly appreciate it.