A letter from CIS of Georgia in Marietta/Cobb County Site Coordinator, Shay Montgomery:
I would like to take this time to share the impact The Voice Club has had at South Cobb High School, as well as the obstacles we’ve overcome.
The Voice Club at South Cobb started in 2016. Prior to the pandemic, The Voice Club was thriving and well known around school. MTCI had been on campus for some time and, as a result, many students were familiar with MTCI facilitators. This definitely helped the club’s growth early on. Unfortunately, the pandemic brought all club activities to a halt and by the beginning of the current school year, Voice Club was nearly non-existent. We tried to go the virtual route but that proved unsuccessful, as students grew exhausted of virtual work. We found ourselves in a position of starting all over again.
Well, a chance meeting with senior Jazmyne Brown changed everything! After explaining to Jazmyne the long road ahead for Voice Club, she was eager to take on the challenge of bringing the club back and making it better than ever.
With Jazmyne’s dynamic personality and leadership qualities, it was obvious that the club was in good hands. She soon began to rally support from upperclassmen, who would eventually become Voice Club leaders. Together, these students went into action and began to spread the word throughout school. Well, it spread like wildfire! At the first Interest Meeting, more than 50 students showed up ready to join.
While that was great, we were aware the numbers would decline in weeks to come. Turns out…we were wrong! Numbers continued to increase and, to-date, The Voice Club at South Cobb has more than 75 active members and is one of the most (dare I say “the most”) well known clubs at South Cobb. The club is again thriving and continues to spread awareness on important topics such as Human Trafficking, Teen Dating Violence, and most recently, Disability Awareness.
Over the years, South Cobb students have struggled with school pride, which has affected our school climate. Well, The Voice Club members have a tremendous amount of pride in this club, and it is our hope that this will continue to spread throughout our school. The Voice Club at South Cobb is successful because our members care about what’s going on in the world and hope for change.
They love using their voice to make a difference! The true key to our success is in the “student led” part. Voice Club members feel empowered. They do it ALL on their own… running the meetings, creating agendas, coming up with ideas on how they’ll spread awareness, creating a social media presence, etc…
The Voice Club helps its members step into leadership, and we all know leaders have the power to influence and create change. Voice Club is creating change at South Cobb.
Leading The Voice Club showed me that one voice can affect many people no matter how the voice is displayed. It also impacted the way I see life.
Everyone is dealt a different set of cards in life but how you deal with those cards is what makes a difference.
—Voice Club President and CIS Student, Jazmyne
Our club president, Jazmyne, has stepped into this leadership role with grace, and will go on to do great things! She has been accepted to Clark Atlanta University, Jackson State University, Edward Waters University, Albany State University, Wilberforce University, Xavier University of Louisiana, Georgia State University, University of West Georgia and North Carolina A&T University.
She plans to attend North Carolina A&T State University and major in Nursing. We are so proud of her!
Thanks to our class of 2022 club leaders, The Voice Club at South Cobb is back and better than before!