The Junior Auxiliary of Columbus is creating a new project, Crown Club, to promote service and leadership in young ladies of Lowndes County.
Crown Club is a service-based organization for upcoming high school sophomores who live or attend school in Lowndes County. Shannon Bowen, a provisional member of JA, said Junior Auxiliary developed this project because it wants to show young women how to create a positive change within the community.
“Our goal as the JA chapter is to empower these girls to make changes in their communities where they see a need,” Bowen said.
The program fosters interest among its members in the social, economic, educational, civic and cultural conditions around them, according to promotional information the chapter provided.
Bowen said her JA provisional class had to create a project to fulfill its service requirement. She and her fellow provisional members had heard of other JA Crown Clubs in the state and decided to create a Crown Club in Lowndes County as their service project.
“Most of the JA projects that you see around the community started off as provisional projects like this one,” Bowen said. “We chose to take on this program, the Crown Club, as our project, and we’re really excited about it.”
JA will be accepting 15 members into the Crown Club this year, Bowen said, all upcoming sophomores in high school. Members will serve for two years. Those chosen must maintain at least a 2.8 GPA and must have lived in Lowndes County or attended a Lowndes County school in the last six months.
Ashleigh Guyton, another JA provisional member working on Crown Club, said the organization is looking for young ladies from every school in Lowndes County to encourage new friendships.
“We want to promote this program county-wide because we want to see girls have friendships beyond their school,” Guyton said. “We want to bridge the gap between the schools and foster friendships within each area.”
Guyton also said representation is important to JA and the Crown Club, and members want to promote diversity and inclusion within their organization.
“We’re hoping to find great girls from all different backgrounds or ethnicities or races, and we hope to promote community within these girls,” she said.
Bowen said Crown Club will focus on such skills as public speaking, learning how to address people professionally, learning how to build resumes and more.
“The number one skill we hope they walk away with though is to recognize and make a change in their community,” Bowen said. “We as JA members will encourage the girls to serve the community, which is what we do, but now we will be mentors to them encouraging them to serve as well.”
Young women interested in Crown Club can apply at the Junior Auxiliary of Columbus website. The deadline to apply is March 22. No applicants will have to complete an interview, just the application with two references and a writing sample.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 37 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.