It’s hard to believe that it's been twenty-three years since Robert D. Putnam published Bowling Alone -The Collapse and Revival of American Community. In this book, Putnam documents the decline of volunteerism and civic engagement in American society. The title comes from one symbolic data point in his research, the fact that while the total number of people bowling had increased over time, the number of teams and leagues had dropped precipitously. People were still bowling, except that now they were alone. He coined the term “social capital” meaning the connectedness in a community, and predicted that losing social capital would lead to a decline in a sense of community in American society. From my perspective as a school leader, his book was disconcerting.
One of my joys in coming to Iowa-Grant has been witnessing all the parents, grandparents, and other community members supporting the students of Iowa-Grant as they present plays and musicals, and participate in clubs like the FFA, the Leo Club, forensics, and athletics. When I am out in the community, it saddens me to hear that what we once had, might be fading. Iowa-Grant might be catching up to the rest of the country in losing social capital and community engagement. I am writing today to make an appeal that we treasure the tradition we’ve had, and work to strengthen it. I am simply asking whether we’d be willing to commit to revive a culture of volunteerism before we find that we are “bowling alone.” Are we willing to step up and not just let the other guy do it? Everyone is busy, so it is even more important that we all chip in and share the load. Let’s bring Panther Pride up to a new level!
A case in point is our booster clubs, and in particular, our Athletic Booster Club. Through hours of dedicated service by the officers and members of the club, our student athletes and the community have been the beneficiaries of numerous purchases of equipment, for example, scoreboards, weightroom, a camera for filming football games, batting cages, a pitching machine, team seating for home games in the gym, ice machines, the vinyl fence around the football field, visitor bleachers, support of volunteer coaches, and student-athlete scholarships. This list could go on. This has been the work of a small group of volunteers, willing to step up and take their turn. Now, it’s time to pass the torch on to others, whose children will be rising up through the ranks as we build our younger teams of Panthers. We all hope our children will do as we say, but we know that in the end, they do as they see us do. Please consider joining the effort by coming to the next Athletic Boosters meeting at 6:00 PM on August 15, 2023 in the high school commons. Let’s bring many hands to make the work light.
Michael Shimshak
