Welcome Back Parents, Teachers and Students,

My name is Mary Louise Karstens and I am the President of Powhatan Elementary School's PTA. To give you a little background, my daughter Ella is in 4^th grade. She has an older brother that has started his 1^st year of middle school. After retiring from banking 11 years ago and the arrival of my son, I became a full time stay at home Mom. I am very excited about our new year, the PTA, and all the outstanding volunteers that have agreed to help our school and its children. 

If you have not already, I would like to ask you to please become a member of our school's PTA. The cost is only $6 per person. Both parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, neighbors...anyone can join. Your $6 helps the PTA offset many of the costs we incur conducting business throughout the school year. We sponsor many of the activities your child enjoys, such as the arts program that is offered to students twice during the year, Perk Day, JumpStart Kindergarten, Spring Palooza. Many of the campus enhancements you see are provided by the PTA. Last year we were able to put the nice wooden benches you will find outside the cafeteria. New this year as a perk to becoming a PTA member, an OfficeMax coupon is located on the back of your membership card. This will give you a $10 savings at Officemax, which more than offsets the cost of membership. Please keep in mind that your membership in the PTA does make a difference in our school!

Again, this year the PTA will be promoting 2 new retail programs. The first is Food Lion's MVP Classroom Rewards program. This is an excellent and easy opportunity for our school to earn money from the shopping that you do everyday. If your card is linked to our school then for every Food Lion brand product you purchase our school earns money. Please visit Foodlion.com. The second is Target's Red Card. If you happen to have or apply for a Target Red Visa or Debit Card and link Powhatan Elementary to that card then all purchases you make using this card gives the school 1% of the total. In addition you receive a 5% discount at Target for using this card. A definite win-win!!

We are also excited to introduce the Read-a-thon as our big fundraiser this fall. This is a wonderful opportunity for your child to get some skill building reading accomplished. All proceeds earned at this fundraiser will go towards improving technology in our classrooms. 

Finally, our PTA board is always looking for committee members. We meet the 1^st Monday of the month in the media center. We need individuals who want to have a voice in our school and make a difference. The board is hard at work all year strengthening the bond between school, parents, and students. Please come and help us make a difference. If interested please contact me at akarstens@nc.rr.com directly or any of our board members. 

I thank each of you for your loyalty to our children, school and its staff.

Sincerely,

Mary Louise Karstens