District pitches ‘Involved Citizen’ push to boost student volunteering and activity participation

A district presenter, identified in the meeting as Mr. Conley, told the board on Feb. 3 that the Involved Citizen initiative aims to increase students’ extracurricular participation and community service through coordinated plans across sports, activities and clubs.

Conley said the district recorded participation rates that are understated in the public table because sixth graders are included in the denominator; if sixth graders are excluded, participation for grades seven through 12 approached roughly 70% last year. He said the district added four sports, three activities and two new lettering agreements this year and noted NHS membership of about 75 students, each required to perform 21 service hours.

The improvement plan Conley outlined asks each sport to adopt at least one community service project—examples include free skills camps, youth game support or awareness events—and to coordinate with clubs when possible. He described an effort to triple or quadruple the number of stand‑alone volunteer events compared with last year.

Conley also described a recognition element for graduating seniors: students active in athletics or activities will receive a small token to give to someone who made a difference for them. “It gives me goosebumps,” Conley said of the plan to publicly recognize community supporters.

Board members thanked Conley and noted the proposal would require coordination with coaches, club advisors and district staff. No formal action or funding request was made at the meeting; Conley presented the plan for board awareness and future coordination.