A Sunset Elementary School teacher has been selected to participate in country musician Jake Gill's Country Music Teacher Classroom Initiative (CMTCI).
Elisha Hampton, a first grade teacher at Sunset Elementary, is participating in the project that was developed to provide teachers throughout the United States with classroom supplies and project funds.
Teachers create a wish list of desired items for their classroom and project materials needed throughout the year. This list is distributed weekly on social media as part of country musician Jake Gill’s ongoing initiative to serve children and now teachers throughout the US and the world. Items can be purchased by anyone in the world and delivered directly to the selected teacher.
“I followed my other love and had a short career in law enforcement, but I still had a burning desire to teach children and to make a difference in the world. Teaching has always been a passion of mine since a young age. Even though my teachers were unaware of the pain that I hid as a child, they impacted my life immensely. They made me want to be a better person. I looked up to them and felt loved by them. They made me want to become a teacher, an advocate for children, a safe place, and a loving voice," Hampton said.
"I love teaching them, loving on them, learning from them, and I love watching them grow into their own little person. I hope that someday my students can look back and say that I impacted their lives like my teachers did mine," she continued.
In addition to classroom supplies and project funding, Hampton’s class will also receive a song writing session with Gill via personal visit or Zoom video. Students will be able to select a topic of interest and together as a class, write a song that will be shared with their school and community.
Gill believes that song writing can help stimulate the creative dimensions of a child and provide a healthy emotional environment of expression.
“Song writing combines the therapeutic benefits of music with the creative release of bringing our thoughts to words. Today’s child is experiencing more stress and trauma daily, than in times before. To be able to express their thoughts and feelings in a healthy manner, is crucial to a thriving development,” Gill said.
Gill, a seven-year member of the Country Music Association founded the CMTCI after a series of life changing events in the early spring of 2020. It is his hope that teachers and classrooms all over the world can benefit from this program. To support Hamptom’s and her classroom please visit her wish list.
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