Athena Serves Holiday Parade

December 5th in downtown Athens!

Narrative

Athena Serves is a group of adults and youth who think that volunteerism and service -learning benefit our community. We believe all youth possess the hidden treasures within for serving others; to unearth these assets, students need opportunities and support to prove themselves as positive, contributing members of the community. Service-Learning and volunteerism provide us the tools to reveal these gems within students.

Service-Learning, as practiced by Athena Serves, is a teaching strategy that integrates meaningful community service (volunteerism) with instruction and reflection to enrich the learning experience, to teach civic responsibility, and to strengthen our community.

Projects undertaken by Athena Serves originate from work with our students and include fighting childhood hunger and obesity, clearing trails to encourage hiking, promoting local shopping, becoming excellent stewards for our environment, the art of storytelling, and starting an eco-hostel in town to offer accommodations for travelers while providing hospitality internships to teach 21^st Century skills to our teens. Like our name sake, Athena goddess of wisdom, we believe service-learning offers all participants a chance to take part in active education while simultaneously addressing the concerns, needs, and hopes of our community.

Entrant Float Description

There are 3 purposes for our float: (1) to promote the spirit of the holiday which is giving selflessly to others; (2) to call attention to the patron deity of our town, Athena; and (3) to raise awareness of our service-learning group. The float will feature a real-life Athena decorating a Christmas tree along with other Greek gods and goddesses in costumes with props. We will also have students playing Christmas music from their instruments while dressed in togas.