Utah PTA Celebrates Local Leaders and Events
We want to shine a spotlight on the amazing people and events that make PTA strong across Utah. Whether it’s a volunteer who goes above and beyond, or a PTA event that brought your school community together, we’d love to feature your story.
Share your nomination and help us inspire others with the power of PTA!
Advocacy
Nicole Williams: Roy Elementary PTA
Nicole has increased our members and really strives to involve more parents and teachers in the mission and vision of the PTA. This year alone we have more teachers and staff than in previous years. We're are over 20 teachers and in the past it was usually 5 or less. Nicole communicates regularly about training events and meetings for local and state chapters. She even has arranged to get more of the Executive Committee to these trainings and events. She personally is on a first name basis with those in our PTA area including the schools in our cone, as well as superintendents and other officials of our city, school board and community.
On average, she spends easily over 20 hours a week doing some form of community outreach, training, awareness efforts, coordinating service within our school and school district. If she is unable to be at an event she ensures someone from the executive committee can fill in and she provides resources and support to ensure that her spot is being filled.
Magical
Kindness Week: Riverside Elementary PTA
This is a week designed to teach our children to look outside of themselves at the world around them for ways they can bring kindness into the world. Whether at home, school, or without their community they can see a need and learn the impact they make when they act upon showing kindness. This week becomes a fundraiser as our students send out emails to friends, family, and grandparents displaying the list of their acts of kindness and the ways they will serve through good deeds and they then ask for their family to pay it forward for their efforts. This week becomes magical and incredibly team building for students and teachers. The students also log their acts of kindness online to keep track of the number of good deeds.
The trees at the outdoor picnic lunch table are have been dying so our school is fundraising for a new shade awning because 90% the students at Riverside Elementary love eating outdoors.
Each day of this week during lunch the students had service activities such as creating a kindness chain, writing letters to those in hospitals and care centers, thank you posters to first responders in our community, and chalking the sidewalk with nice messages for each other.
Riverside Elementary had a goal of bringing in $16,000 in donations during Kindness Week and ended the week bringing in $36,300 for their school. Riverside Elementary logged 5,222 acts of Kindness!
At the closing celebration of Kindness Week the students and faculty were shocked by their efforts and all of that happened as they were doing good things and bring joy to others! All fundraising aside, the Riverside PTA is so proud of the students for the impact they have on each other and the community around them!
Extraordinary
Lori Ann Berg: Snow Horse PTA, Centennial PTSA, and Farmington PTSA
She is passionate about the kids and their needs! Always putting herself out there to make the schools and community a place you can be proud of! She shows up and is an absolute thrill to be around and associate with.
Enthusiasm
Megan Lemon: Shoreline Junior High PTSA
Megan is a first year volunteer with SLJH PTSA. She jumped right in and took over the Student Board with great enthusiasm and energy. She wants the kids to learn, serve and be part of the greater good. We also brought in many donated items for the Davis High teen center! Megan single handedly made our Halloween Stomp a success.
Successful
Halloween Stomp: Shoreline Junior High PTSA
The PTSA Halloween Stomp was a huge success. We had a line out the door the entire 2 hours! Our community donated so many wonderful items and their time. This stomp brought in more money for our PTA than last year and we heard high praises from students, teachers and school staff.
Inspiring
School Food Drive: Sprucewood Elementary PTA
This year’s Sprucewood PTA Food Drive is truly something special. It’s the first large-scale food drive our school has held in recent memory, and the response has been nothing short of inspiring.
As of yesterday, our community has donated 4,063 food items (and we have 3 more days to go)—an incredible accomplishment for a first-time effort. But what’s made this event shine isn’t just the number of cans collected … it’s the overwhelming sense of unity and compassion behind it.
Parents have stepped up without hesitation: asking which categories still need support, coordinating donations, and even reaching out to see whether these contributions can help families during the holidays. With the recent government shutdown creating additional financial strain for some households, this drive has become more than just a school activity—it’s become a lifeline for our own community members.
The Sprucewood Food Drive has had a powerful and immediate impact on our school community—far beyond simply collecting canned goods. Because all donated food stays within our school, the drive directly supports Sprucewood families who may be facing financial hardships. Families have shared that knowing this resource exists has brought them real peace of mind heading into the holidays.
For students, the impact has been just as meaningful. Many children have taken pride in bringing in items each day, checking the category of the day, and encouraging classmates to participate. It’s given them a hands-on experience in generosity, empathy, and community involvement. Even younger students feel like they are contributing to something bigger than themselves.
The friendly competition between classes has created excitement and unity, and parents have rallied in remarkable ways—sharing updates, filling gaps in donation categories, and spreading the word. The drive has created a sense of camaraderie across grade levels and families who may not normally interact.
Overall, this event has strengthened the sense of belonging at Sprucewood. It showcased what our community can accomplish together and how the PTA can lead efforts that uplift, support, and connect families in truly meaningful ways.
Spectacular
Chinese New Year Celebration: Ridgecrest Elementary PTA
Our annual Chinese New Year Celebration highlights the Chinese language, culture, and traditions. It is a huge event with lots of aspects to coordinate. Our Dual classes in each grade perform a song. Then we have student performers (5th graders in dual and general ed classes) present a lion dance, fan dance, and dragon dance, each of which are significant to Chinese culture. After the performances, attendees stop at different booths run by teacher volunteers: red envelopes; a craft related to zodiac animal of the year (horse); calligraphy; food sampling (egg rolls, dumplings, and clementines); photo booth with backdrop, costumes, and props; Chinese yo-yo practice; chopstick challenge (moving fortune cookies with chopsticks); zodiac animal spinners; and knotting keychains. There was also a booth selling Boba drinks and a place to get a prize (horse keychain) for visiting 6 or more booths.
Before the evening of our celebration, the commissioner and chair also design tshirts for anyone to order to wear, leading up to the event and at the event. It helps bring unity to the event. They also reached out to many companies for donations. Parent volunteers organize, plan and teach students the lion, fan, and dragon dances at practices for multiple weeks. The committee plans and decorates our school about 2 weeks before the event and since we have outgrown having it at our school, they coordinate transporting items to middle school, and decorate, set up, and hold the event there.
This year the commissioner and chair decided to arrange an assembly the next morning--they had the students perform the lion, fan, and dragon dances again (for those who may not have attended), told the story (in shadow puppet form) of how the zodiac animals were chosen, and taught about the customary sayings (Gōngxǐ, meaning congratulations), dress (in red for good luck), traditions (cleaning the house, cutting hair, taking out the garbage BEFORE the new year) and foods: dumplings (represent wealth); egg rolls (symbolize gold bars); and mandarin oranges (represent good luck, prosperity, and happiness).
We filled the auditorium with 700-something attendees! We invited the community of a neighboring school that is closing and combining with our school next year. They were amazed at the turnout and all the variety of events. It's so amazing to celebrate the Chinese culture our school embraces and learns about. The community loves coming each year as we share what makes Chinese culture so amazing. Overall, including shining a light on a Chinese culture, the event allows for ALL participants to engage in Chinese cultural activities.
This event is a unifying moment each year for our school where half the students are learning Chinese each day and the other half are in a traditional elementary program. This year, we also invited the community of a neighboring school, Bella Vista, that is consolidating with ours next year so they can better get to know us. Our PTA and this event in particular did an amazing job of helping our school welcome everyone to our community when it really mattered. It was a lovely way to showcase students both in and out of our Chinese program as they learn about a different culture.
Fun
Bryndy Bradshaw: Ridgecrest Elementary PTA
Bryndy makes sure everything is fun! This is her first year serving on the PTA board and right from the start, she created a parody of the Backstreet Boys' song "Everybody". The song was part of our membership drive to get teachers to join PTA. The teachers were amazed and entertained as we sang it to them at a welcome back breakfast. Then she changed a few lyrics to make it applicable to parents. We posted it on our instagram and got such a positive response. We have more members this year than previous!
Then we moved into planning our Fundraiser Fun Run. For the kickoff assembly, Bryndy wrote a 10-minute-long script of a Game Show called "Who Wants to Be a Ridgecrest Runner?" The contestants answered questions about why we're fundraising, the different ways to donate, how to prepare for the Fun Run, and the amazing prizes they could win. The kids loved it and were engaged in the assembly so MUCH more than previous years' presentation. We made our fundraising goal of $25,000!
Bryndy also took the lead on our Red Ribbon Week the past couple of years. This year the theme was "Life is a Puzzle; We Solve it Drug-Free" and she made it so fun for students. She scheduled spirit days each day (including wearing red or school colors, wearing pajamas, and wearing spooking hair, socks, or accessories). Not only did she do that, but she created a morning announcement for each day. The different lunch recess activities were doing puzzles, learning & practicing imaginative breathing strategies, and a Halloween dance party.
We haven't had Teacher Appreciation Week yet this year, but last year our theme was Happiest School on Earth (Disney). Bryndy was on the committee and dressed up as Mary Poppins during one of the day's events. She is on the committee again this year and I look forward to her amazing ideas.
Bryndy includes fun in all she does. This is important to make things memorable for everyone! Bryndy's hard work and creativity this year increased PTA membership and excitement for the fundraiser Fun Run, and inspired students to make healthy choices.
Limitless
Dr. Seuss Career Night: Magna STEAM Academy PTA
Our PTA Career Night was a great example of PTA in action by bringing together families, educators, and community professionals to support student learning beyond the classroom. Volunteers worked together to organize an engaging event where students could explore a variety of career paths. The evening helped students see the many possibilities for their future. We had wonderful attendance at this event. It brought our students and their families together to learn about all of the different careers they can choose from. It helped our community partners to feel connected.