The Harding education department’s pre-professional organization, S.A.L.T. helped serve the Searcy community this past Thursday as they spent their time reading and helping mentor children at Westside Elementary School.
S.A.L.T., which stands for scholars advancing learning and teaching, is a club and organization designed for all students earning their degree in education. According to senior education major, Mariah Huffman, who is also the president of the club, S.A.L.T. has been inactive for several years.
“I would like to see it become a club that stays on campus,” Huffman said. “I’m graduating in May, but I would like to see the club continue. We really want it to be an organization that gets involved with the community and is well recognized on campus for service. … The name of the club comes from the book of Matthew where Jesus talks about being the salt of the world. We want it to be a club whose goal is to serve God through education, service projects, mentoring other education students and, overall, improving the department. “
Huffman said more than 20 students are currently involved with the club, but she hopes it will continue to grow.
“The fact that S.A.L.T. is a student-led organization is exciting, because we all get to play a part in how we want to affect the community,” senior Mariah Scott said. “As an education major, I’m always looking for ways to spend time working with and serving children and their families.”
On Thursday, about 20 members of S.A.L.T. participated in a service project at Westside Elementary School where they read children’s books, dressed up as different characters from the stories and then helped conduct different activities for the children that correlated with the books.
According to Huffman, this was the first service project that the club participated in this year. She said she was able to read a book from the “Ellis, the Elephant” series which tells the story of a young elephant discovering America. Huffman said the project was a fun way to interact with young students.
“I think all of our service projects will help me get more acquainted with how communities interact with schools,” Scott said.
