FIOS - Rebuilding our community
By Nevaeh Grant ‘24, managing editor
Helping the public library and adding more greenery to the community were among the ideas students in grades seventh through twelfth grades suggested during a “Rebuilding our Community” meeting held in early February.
The students, including a number of Future Innovators of Shamokin (FIOS) members, first participated in a brainstorming session/pre-workshop meeting hosted by Danny Gogal of the Environmental Protection Agency at Shamokin Area Middle High School on February 7.
The goal of the meeting was to brainstorm ideas to present at the workshop that was held February 7 and 8 at Mother Cabrini Church. Students collaborated and presented two short-term goals to support the overarching goals set forth by the community members. FIOS will be partnering with the Shamokin Coal Township Public Library to publicize events, as well as host events targeting youth.
FIOS community coming together to discuss how to rebuild the community.
(Photo by Mrs. Suchanick)
The first goal is assisting the community library in the marketing and advertising of the services the library has to offer, as well as the assistance to raise funds for additional services and items for community members to use in the library.
The second goal is to purchase greenery (trees, shrubs, and flowers) for the community, which will be supported through the presence of FIOS at Shamokin’s next festival, “Shamokin Warms My Heart,” in April, by selling items and providing information regarding the group’s mission. “Shamokin Warms My Heart” will be held on Saturday, April 8, from 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM at Claude Kehler Park. Numerous vendors and entertainment will be present. Mrs. Brown’s Annual Easter Egg Hunt will be held at Volunteer Park (formerly known as Claude Kehler Park II) on the other side of the creek.
One of the ways that FIOS is planning to advertise community events, such as the library’s, is to create a Raspberry Pi Bulletin Board to be displayed in the Middle/High School main lobby, which will be paid for by a stipend from the Governor’s STEM Competition that 5 FIOS members have been working on. FIOS members are creating an electronic bulletin board that utilizes Raspberry Pi (a coding platform) to display community events at the school on a large screen monitor. Those members include Lyla Barrett, Joseph DeWitt, Jayden McKeen, Brett Nye, and Kennedy Petrovich. Lyla and Kennedy will be spearheading the community events advertising initiative for both the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 school years. They presented their ideas at the Rebuilding our Community workshop on February 7 at Mother Cabrini Church. The mission of FIOS is to provide a forum for youth to engage, lead, and better the local community.