“Parental involvement is good for the parents, good for the kids, and good for the school.” Those are the words of Elk City mom Heather Dixon-this month’s VYPE Mom of the Month. Heather recently completed her first fund raising effort for her multi-sport son, Kingston’s Elk City basketball team.
“I got included in a text chain of moms that were working on this pancake breakfast fund raiser and even though I work full-time, I decided I would get involved and help when I could, so I showed up bright and early that morning and we ended up raising several thousand dollars for the team.”
Even though it was her first fund raising effort, Kingston, who is a sophomore, has already been involved in raising money for sweatshirts and selling discount cards which has been good for him in a lot of ways according to mom.
“I think sports is a great thing for kids to get involved with. It keeps them active, out of trouble and prepares them for the future. They learn teamwork and good communications skills. I know Kingston doesn’t really like to put himself out there, so it’s been good for him to go out and have a little speech prepared and talk to people about donating money for different projects and gets him out of his comfort zone,” said Heather who works as a pharmacist technician.
“The reward for parental involvement is seeing how your participation benefits everyone through enhanced facilities and opportunities for the kids. Just showing up as a parent with an idea or an extra set of hands really helps. I plan to keep being as involved as I can to help him and help the school as Kingston continues on through high school.”
And don’t think you have to have been an athlete in high school to be a helping parent.
“Oh, goodness no,” laughed Heather. “I played sports up until high school, but I was more of a fine arts student in high school.”
The Dixon family includes Heather and Kingston as well as Oakley, age eight who plays basketball in the Kids Inc. program in Elk City, and dad Jordan who works for the state of Oklahoma.
