Seeing our families take pride and invest themselves in the Jenison student community is a pretty regular occurrence but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a thing of beauty. The passion so many parents have to bring new ideas to life and support their students is always encouraging.
Watch D.O.G.S. (Dads of Great Students) is a nationwide school volunteer program that was designed to encourage dads and other male role models (stepfathers, godfathers, grandfathers, uncles, brothers, and neighbors) to get more involved in their children’s education; starting with spending a day volunteering at school.
During a normal day on ‘watch’, the men may be reading and working on flash cards, playing at recess or eating lunch with students, patrolling the school entrances and hallways, assisting with traffic flow and any other assigned activities where they actively engage with not only their own students, but other students as well. There are many touch points throughout the day where these men add value to young lives, help them feel known and model taking pride in themselves and their school. It is a sacrifice of time for any volunteer to spend a whole day in the school but the kids love their presence and look forward to their involvement when the DOGS are on campus.
The Watch D.O.G.S. program has been up and running in JPS for some years now but Daniel Bush, coordinator for the program at Bauerwood wanted to pull people together to give something more back to the kids. He recently arranged the first fall clean up day for Bauerwood Elementary on Saturday, November 10.
In preparation for the big day, volunteers worked behind the scenes to get the community involved. They took down the outdoor basketball backboards: cleaned, primed, sanded and painted them. Students then had a chance to decorate them with a paw print and sign their name. The rest of the work on clean up day was dedicated to removing unsightly brush and tidying the mulch. However, it wasn’t all grueling work, the DOGS and their pup helpers had plenty of fun with donuts, lunch and snowball fights!
Thank you to the many minds, hearts and hands, in the school and community that made these projects happen – giving our kids something to be very proud of! They accomplished a lot on that day and I love that our schools are setting the bar for other communities in the area. Check out the coverage from Fox 17 they received!
Playground Project Supervisors from Bauerwood: Chad McKinney, Brett DeBoer, Skyler Hall, Eric Kass, Max Gamble, Greg Smith, and Daniel Bush
Special Thanks to our Sponsors:
- Jenison Sherwin Williams
- Pater Bobcat Services
- Integrity Tree Service
- Byron Center Meats
- Ida’s Bakery
- Jenison Biggby Coffee
- Grandville Walmart
- Home Depot – 54th St. Wyoming
- Bauerwood Family Network
- Bauerwood Elementary Staff – Principal Morse and all the Support Staff
- Missy Brandt – MSB Photography and Jennifer Gamble – Photos
“Watchdogs always strive to bring our students up… even if it is a simple act of showing interest in their recreation at school. The Watch D.O.G.S. may have championed this clean up effort but we had a lot of MVP’s that were there to support us… it is great when everyone jumps in and helps!” Daniel Bush, Bauerwood dad and TopDog.
Fox 17 was on site to capture a great story about the Bauerwood Family.
Watch D.O.G.S know how to work hard and play hard!
Thanks to Pater Bobcat Services for some help with the heavy lifting!
Spreading 15 yards of donated mulch from Integrity Tree Service.
Kid Cat Approved! Thanks WatchDog dads!
Central Office Sentinel 
Schools, parents, and the community should work together to promote the health, wellbeing, and learning of all students. When schools actively involve parents and engage community resources they are able to respond more effectively to the health-related needs of students. So huge thanks to Tom Tenbrink and JPS as a whole for seeing the value in the Watchdog Dad Program and being One Family!
Family and community involvement fosters partnerships among schools, family, community groups, and individuals. These partnerships result in sharing and maximizing resources. And they help children and youth develop healthy behaviors and promote healthy families.
Research shows that students whose parents are involved in their education are more likely to:
Adapt well to school
Attend school more regularly
Complete homework more consistently
Earn higher grades and test scores
Graduate and go on to college
Have better social skills
Show improved behavior
Have better relationships with their parents
Have higher self-esteem
Additionally, linking community activities to the classroom:
Improves school-related behaviors
Positively impacts academic achievement
Reduces school suspension rates
Being a Watchdog is a blessing and enables us as fathers to see our kids in their own element at school. Great work Watchdogs, BFN and all that came out to support our children.