A graphic shows a picture of Burney-Harris Lyons Middle School English department teacher Dr. Chandra Power. Power, who is currently battling stage four colon cancer, will be the guest of honor for the Crumbley Cause benefit drive, hosted by Fit Body Boot Camp on Sept. 20. “(Power’s daughter), Jessica, is a client at Fit Body Boot Camp. We reached out about doing (the fundraising 5K) this year, (and) we wanted to find somebody to help in our community,” Fit Body Boot Camp Director of Experience Michelle Wyatt said. “Jessica sent in the inquiry about her mother, and (then) we chose her to be our guest of honor (for the drive).” Photo courtesy of Michelle Wyatt, graphic by Gillian Williams
Fit Body Boot Camp is hosting a charity 5K for BHL English department teacher Dr. Chandra Power on Sept. 20.
Fit Body Boot Camp is hosting a charity 5K and shoe drive for Burney-Harris Lyons Middle School English department teacher Dr. Chandra Power, who is battling stage four colon cancer. The charity 5K will take place at Wire Park on Sept. 20, while the shoe drive started July 1 and ended Sept. 19.
Funds will help pay for treatment and raise awareness for Power, an Oglethorpe County native and public school teacher for over 40 years in Hart County, Wilkes County and Madison County, as well as in the Clarke County School District at Clarke Central High School, Coile Middle School and currently at BHL. The drive’s goal is to raise a total of $6,667.
“We (want) to do everything that we (can) to raise as much money as possible for (Power). (We want to bring) awareness to the situation (and build) a community around being able to help other people,” Fit Body Boot Camp Director of Experience Michelle Wyatt said. “(That could be) financially, like helping (pay) for chemo treatments, (or) just to spread the word (about the situation).”
“(Power has) always been good wherever she (teaches). Her students adore her, but they (also) respect her, and (that makes) a difference. A lot of teachers are likable, but that doesn’t make them good teachers.”
— Ian Altman,
CCHS English department teacher
Power was the English department chair at Clarke Central High School when she hired English department teacher Ian Altman in 2005, and the two worked alongside each other until Power took a position at Georgia College and State University as a teacher of pre-service teaching candidates in 2010.
“(Power has) always been good wherever she (teaches). Her students adore her, but they (also) respect her, and (that makes) a difference. A lot of teachers are likable, but that doesn’t make them good teachers,” Altman said. “(Power) is both. She knows how to do the job, and she’s been doing it for decades.”
Altman considers Power’s impact on teachers and students as valuable and is hopeful for support from the community, which can take place through participation in the 5K and shoe drive and by making donations to the Venmo account @FitBody-BootCamp-2.
“(Power has) always been helpful to newer teachers (and) veteran teachers, and she’s always doing something good for other people, (so she) has that impact on the school communities and in the district as a whole,” Altman said. “She has given her whole life to this profession and to her students, and we owe her for that.”
