The MUS CSO is planning an afternoon of fun for a great cause on Saturday January 31. Wish Bowl is an opportunity for all members of the MUS family to come together for Make-A-Wish and have a great time. Teams of 5 members will compete at Billy Hardwick Lanes on Quince Road at White Station from 1 to 4 pm that Saturday. Cost is $20 per bowler and proceeds will go toward granting a wish.
Sign up on the MUS website or call John Cady at 260-1367 for details.
Park Friends Inc. has invited the MUS CSO to participate in a clean-up project on Saturday January 10. Sign up on the CSO bulletin board and come to the Overton Golf Course club house at 9 am. Bring work gloves and be prepared to stay until noon. Donuts and then lunch will be provided.
Melrose High School and the Orange Mound Community suffered great loss in the house fire that claimed 7 members of the Poole family. The Bridges Classic Football game (August 23 at the Liberty Bowl) between Melrose and MUS was on the minds of the Civic Service Officers when they called on the student body to reach out to the Poole family. Working quickly, the CSO utilized home room reps and raised a total of $1202.40. Regions bank is the clearinghouse for funds raised to assist the family and Drew Cornaghie delivered the money this past Tuesday.
Friday evening last week, the teams competing in the Bridges Classic met for dinner and fellowship. Honor Council President and football team member Lowell Hays spoke for the team and the school, announcing the total raised for the family and the deep concern expressed by the students. The CSO will continue to find ways to reach out to this family in the future.
On Saturday April 12, a group of MUS students and members of the Alumni Board will participate in a building project for Habitat. Over 20 students have signed up and several alums are expected that morning. The task for the day will be to set cabinets and paint.
Other opportunities to help Habitat exist, please contact Coach John Cady for details. Office number 901-260-1367.
The annual MUS Talent Show was held on February 23 in the Hyde Chapel under the direction of the Civic Service Executive Board. Proceeds from the show went to the Make-A-Wish Foundation to benefit a young child and help fulfill a dream. Twelve acts ranging from a magic show to rock bands entertained the crowd. Teddy Klug and Michael Cross served as emcees and kept the crowd entertained between acts with trivia questions and drawings for some really cool prizes.
The $5,000 goal was achieved and the CSO expects to have our Make-A-Wish child visit the campus before the end of the school year for a presentation. Special thanks to Mr. Andy Saunders, Mr. John Hiltonsmith and Roger Chiu for managing all of the special audio and video needs of the contestants. Also, representing the 10th grade mothers, Mrs. Linda Hill and her husband Hank provided treats and soft drinks during intermission and raised over $300 toward the overall goal.
The 3rd Annual Gobble Gala is coming. Tuesday night November 20th from 9 to 11.30 the CSO will rock the house for charity. The Soul Shockers are going to put on a show that will propel all in attendance into the Thanksgiving Break with a little extra "soul" and a lot of great memories.
The net proceeds of the dance will go to the Memphis Food Bank and the CSO is hoping for a bigger crowd than last year (650 in 2006). Four schools will be participating: Hutchison, Lausanne, MUS and St. Mary's. Tickets are $15 and at least one member of a student couple needs to be a student from one of the sponsoring schools. If you have questions about the dance, please contact John Cady, Director of Student Life at MUS - phone 260-1367.
Drew Cornaghie
November 3, 2007
CSO Can Drive After-Action Report
For the past two weeks, MUS has participated in the city-wide canned food drive hosted by the Memphis Food Bank. This year, exactly five thousand six hundred and nineteen cans were collected by the students and faculty of MUS, surpassing last year by roughly one thousand. All the homerooms competed in a contest to bring the most cans and receive a Chic-fil-A breakfast and a dress-down day as rewards. The competition ended in a tie between the homerooms of Mr. Shelton and Mr. Stacey. Both collected approximately eight hundred and thirty cans. In the Lower School, Mrs. Burke’s homeroom came in first with one hundred and forty-one cans. The students and faculty also competed in an individual competition for prizes. Colin Mcdonald took first with two hundred and sixty-four cans and received a $50 gift card to Houston’s. Evan Elmore placed second with one hundred and eighty-two cans, receiving a $30 gift card to Chile’s. Lastly, Michael Edwards came in third with one hundred and seventy cans and a $20 gift card to Tropical Smoothie Café. A truck supplied by FedEx transported the cans to the Food Bank downtown. Civic Service executives and representatives spent several hours on Friday counting and boxing up the food products and then loading them into the FedEx truck. Overall the
Drew Cornaghie
Civic Service Organization
Charity Week
After Action Report
On Tuesday September 18, the Bloodmobile from Lifeblood came to the MUS campus from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. as a part of CSO’s Charity Week. This project is a part of the Junior League of Memphis’ annual community blood drive. The event was extremely successful. Last year, Lifeblood collected 25 pints of blood from MUS donors and this year our goal was to again collect 25 pints. We met and exceeded that goal by collecting a total of 26 pints of blood. 31 individuals actually came to the Bloodmobile to donate, but 5 were unable to give blood for a variety of reason from medical to recent foreign travels.
While the event met our goal, there are several ways on which the project could potentially be more successful in future years. I recommend we move the blood drive to February for a number of reasons. First of all, since there is an age requirement of 17 to donate blood, there would be a larger pool of MUS students who would be the required age by February. Additionally, the fall sports, particularly football, would have ended and those athletes would be able to donate. Football has more participants than the winter sports and active athletes cannot give blood if they have practice the day of the blood drive. February is also American Heart Association Month and this would provide a good theme along with Valentine’s Day.
Secondly, we could provide incentives for donors to sign up early (particularly by the Friday of the week before). These incentives could include getting gift certificates for free smoothies from Tropical Smoothie Café or food from Chick-fil-A. Each day there could be a drawing for all the people who signed up that day to win one of the gift certificates. Finally, the Owl’s Hoot could do an article in one of the issues about the chronic shortage of blood in Memphis
The entire student body of MUS heard a fantastic message on the subject of selflessness and civic service from Braxton Brady. Coach Brady as he is known at PDS, graduated from MUS in 1991 and then attended the University of Memphis. The past five years, Braxton has worked as a teacher and coach at PDS and his popularity with that school's graduates was apparent as soon as he walked to the podium. The theme of the talk resonated strongly with our student body: there is a lack of positive male leadership in the Memphis community and we need to change that or continue to suffer the consequences of a city divided and riddled with poverty and crime.
Three major points from the speech followed the acronym "UGA", popular obviously with Bulldog fans. U stands for "Understanding the Situation", a must for all of us in Memphis who wish to bring about change. G was for "Get in the Game", sitting on the sideline and just "throwing money at the problems" will not work. Coach Brady said that we are going to have to get down on the floor sometimes and get our hands dirty, actually be physically involved. Lastly, Braxton urged the audience to "Accept the Responsibility." As a two year resident of the Binghampton neighborhood, an impoverished and crime riddled area, Coach Brady practices what he preaches and at the conclusion of his talk asked the audience to join him in taking ownership for changing our community.
In the words of Upper School Principal Barry Ray: "the more our students are exposed to our alumni, the more they will grow." Thanks to Coach Brady for issuing such a moving challenge for Civic Service Week.
Notice for all Parents of MUS students: The LifeBlood Bus will be on our campus from 8 AM to 1 PM on Tuesday, September 18 as a part of Charity Week at MUS. If you would like to donate a unit of blood, please call John Cady at 260-1367 and your name can be placed on the appointment list – or you can drop by when you are free and the technicians can work you in. The bus will be parked on the east side of the campus near the Campus Center.
