GREENEVILLE, Tenn. – Sixth graders at Chuckey Elementary School now know about "The Power of Five" thanks to students in a Tusculum College Service-Learning class.

The Tusculum students visited sixth grade classes at Chuckey School last week to teach the youngsters about "The Power of Five," a program of America’s Promise, created in cooperation with Weekly Reader.

Representatives of the Chuckey classes and the Tusculum students shared what they had learned and the activities of the week during a special assembly on Monday (Oct. 6) at the elementary school.

The Tusculum students divided into groups to teach the sixth graders about the five basic tenants of the America's Promise program, which focuses on strengthening communities to provide greater opportunity for youths to lead successful lives.

The Power of Five program encourages youths ages 11 to 14 to fulfill a modified version of the Five Promises. These five promises are: a caring adult in the life of every child, a safe place with structured activities during non-school hours, a healthy start, marketable skills through effective education, and opportunity to give back to the community through service.

Addressing the promise of having a caring adult in the life of every child were Tusculum students Brendan Burk and Justin Jeffers. Burk and Jeffers emphasized not only the importance of having adult mentors in children’s lives but also that the sixth graders could be mentors to younger children.

Jon Barnett and Kevin Pyzik taught the sixth graders about safe places with structured activities during non-school hours. Barnett shared with the students about a friend who did not have structured activities after school and instead started hanging around with the wrong crowd, getting into trouble. "If my friend had a safe place to go after school when he was your age, he might be here helping to give this presentation," Barnett told the students.

The importance of a healthy start, focusing on exercise and nutrition, was the subject for Hannah Doyle and Carla Underwood. They provided information to the sixth graders about good nutrition and possible exercise activities for children not interested in playing organized sports.

The promise regarding gaining marketable skills through education was introduced to the students by a staff member of the Greene County Community of Promise program.

For the promise of giving back to the community, the sixth graders held a food drive at the school to collect food for the Food Bank of the Greeneville-Greene County Community Ministries. Carmen Ricker, director of the Community Ministries, thanked the students for collecting the canned goods. "One of our biggest needs right now is food, and we have requests from families who have a scarce amount or nothing at all to eat in their homes," she said.

The Tusculum students also thanked the students, faculty, and administration of Chuckey for their cooperation in allowing them to introduce the Power of Five program to the sixth graders. 

Attending the presentation were representatives from the Tusculum College Service-Learning Center, the Volunteer Center, the Greene County School System, and the local Community of Promise organization.

Tusculum College is a "College of Promise" and Chuckey Elementary is a "School of Promise" in the Greene County Community of Promise program, which is a part of America's Promise - the Alliance for Youth national organization. Locally, it is a program of the Volunteer Center.