Councilman Stanton, Kathy Shamley, and Mayor Phil Gordon
© www.peterjordanphoto.com
Community Counts
Ms. Kathy Shamley is a social studies teacher in Desert Vista High School in Ahwatukee. She is the coordinator for a student organization called Community Counts, where they help out people in the community who are in need. It was not until two years ago that her Community Counts organization adopted my third grade class at Wilson Primary School. Our school is predominantly made up of minorities who qualify for free breakfast and lunch aide. The DV students are such wonderful mentors to these students who crave the independent attention from older individuals. Our visits are academically based where they play educational games, read books, share stories, and work on computers. The Wilson students enjoy sharing time with them so much that they don’t even know that they are actually doing “school work”. My students have had interaction with these high school students monthly, developing a beautiful partnership.
