Students Standing Strong History

Students Standing Strong was born in the spring of 2004 when Terry Ann Kelly, a Grapevine, Texas resident and mother of five school-aged children, had an idea she hoped would help her 11-year-old son. She wanted him to be more equipped to face the challenges he would encounter as he entered middle school. She understood that he would have choices to make regarding alcohol, drugs and sexual promiscuity and she wanted him to be surrounded with like-minded friends. Hopefully, together they could stand strong against negative peer pressure! She thought she would simply invite every fifth grader in Colt’s public school to a party at her house where she would serve them a hot-dog meal and talk to them about how they could resist middle school peer pressure by living according to God’s word. As Terry Ann began to mention her idea to other parents it dawned on her: Catholic and Protestant parents all want the same thing. We all want our kid’s faith to be so personal that it affects the way they live. We want our kids to not only have beliefs but we want them to have the conviction to live those beliefs out in their everyday life. We want their beliefs to develop into the kind of convictions that affect the choices they make! She contacted other parents who had the same concerns and they decided to host a non-denominational, Christian-based party where the soon to be middle-school children would be exposed to God’s perspective on the issues they may face in the teenage years to come. That one, fifth-grade event, which began as an idea to host a “hot-dog” party in Terry Ann’s home has taken off and now Students Standing Strong fifth-grade events are now being organized by moms and dads representing many other elementary schools.

Elementary “Big Send Off”

The first Students Standing Strong “Big Send Off” was held on April 18, 2004. The entire fifth grade population at O.C.Taylor Elementary School was invited to attend a party that included fun, food and a Christian based look at how students could confidently approach the new challenges they would encounter during the middle school years without giving in to peer pressure. Students were encouraged to be accountable to one another regarding their life-style choices. Through parent and local merchant donations, funds were raised in order to pay for a Student Standing Strong t-shirt for each student, as well as for invitations, postage and food for the event.
Since that time, Students Standing Strong has hosted many fifth grade “Big Send Offs”. All fifth grade “Big Send Offs” are held in the spring, right before elementary school graduation. Some districts include sixth grade in the elementary grades and don’t begin middle school until seventh grade. In that case the introduction into Students Standing Strong happens at the end of sixth grade. Parents of children from other schools began to contact to us and that is how Students Standing Strong has gone from a simple “hot-dog” parted hosted by a mom of five children to an organization that is positively affecting thousands of students, parents and communities.

Students Standing Strong High School Events

After tremendous support and success at the elementary school level, Terry Ann sensed the need to organize at the high school. Terry Ann realized that her oldest two children, Katelin who was a junior and Clay who was a freshman, were in a public high school environment in which most students adopted a very godless approach to life. The stakes were high, even for Christian students. She was amazed as she saw Christian kids, who had been taught the truth of how a Christian teenager should live, were making the same moral compromises that non-Christian students were making. Christian teens were living defeated Christian lives. Moral compromise, including drug and alcohol abuse to sexual promiscuity was rampant in those teenagers who claimed the name of “Christian.” In July of 2004, the Lord inspired Terry Ann to organize a group of students who were interested in forming a Christian based club on their school campus. There were two high schools in the IDS and the students wanted to organize student-led clubs on both campuses, but would then hold joint chapter meetings. Therefore, in the fall of 2004, Students Standing Strong was birthed at the high school level. An opportunity was then created for all Grapevine/Colleyville ISD students to come together in order to:

• Meet other Christian students
• Encourage one another stand strong in their faith
• Make great and positive friends who will help them make good choices while in high school

Utilizing the Federal Equal Access Act, students organized Students Standing Strong chapters at both Grapevine High School and Colleyville Heritage High Schools. The legal concept of “equal access” prohibits any public school to deny club status based on religious reasons. The students wrote a constitution and began to select over 70 officers and class representatives. They held countless officer and representative meetings where they planned four large chapter meetings. Every high school student in the district (over 4,300 students) received an invitation through the mail inviting him or her to the four at large chapter meetings. Over 1,000 students came to each of the first two meetings and approximately 700 students came to each of the last two chapter meetings. Invitations, hand-addressed by students, were sent out for each event. The addresses were gained by using the PTA school directories. The chapter meetings were completely organized and conducted by the student leadership council that is completely comprised of only students and a teacher/sponsor who is required to monitor the organization. (All student-led clubs are required to have a teacher who acts as a monitor.) At each of the chapter meetings students listened to a band and a speaker. Each student in attendance was served a freemeal that was provided by a team of about eighty mothers. Student organizers raised the funds needed for each event through personal solicitation. Parents and local businesses generously gave money when they learned of the newly formed student-led club. No school funds are ever used to finance any event because it has no direct affiliation with the public school other than having club status under the protection of the Federal Equal Access Act. Other students in different parts of the country who want to organize their own chapters in their local high schools are currently contacting Students Standing Strong.

Students Standing Strong Middle School Events

The first two Students Standing Strong middle school events took place on August 14th and 17th, 2005. The students at Cross Timbers Middle School and Colleyville Middle School were invited to their individual middle school events on these two dates. The purpose of these events was essentially the same as the purpose for the high school and fifth grade events: to encourage students to make wise life-style choices based on a Christian belief system and to help them to identify other students who share the same faith in order to help one another to stand against the peer pressure that might otherwise lead to a life of moral compromise. Funds were generated through parent and local merchant donations. The donations were used to fund the printing of invitations, postage, and a pizza lunch. Students Standing Strong t-shirts were available for purchase. Cross Timbers Middle School held their event at a local park and had about 300 students attend which represented about 40% of their entire student population. Heritage Middle School’s event drew about 200 students, approximately 30% of the school’s 6th, 7th and 8th graders. After eating and hearing a dynamic speaker, high school Student Standing Strong officers and representatives led the middle schoolers in break-out sessions, where they were able to discuss the pressures of middle school life and how a relationship with Jesus Christ will help them to successfully navigate through the sometimes difficult teenage years.