A graphic shows a picture of Classic City High School Family Engagement Specialist Keshay Hull-Taylor and the details of the Classic City Community Thanksgiving Dinner. This year’s annual Thanksgiving event, which will be held on Nov. 14, has undergone many changes since its creation in 2022 by Hull-Taylor. “You sit down like you (are) at home with family, having a Thanksgiving dinner, but this year, some students will get up and speak before we eat,” Hull-Taylor said. “We also have a (basketball) game before the dinner, so the families get to come and support their students.” Photo courtesy of Keshay Hull-Taylor, graphic by Emlyn McKinney
Classic City High School will hold its annual Classic City Community Thanksgiving Dinner on Nov. 14 from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., intending to improve community engagement.
Classic City High School faculty, students and their guests will bustle around CCHS’s cafeteria on Nov. 14, digging into the Thanksgiving meal on their plates as laughter and conversation fill the air.
This year’s annual Classic City Community Thanksgiving Dinner and Basketball Game will feature a game between two CCHS teams in the Elizabeth G. King Campus Gymnasium at the H.T. Edwards Teaching and Learning Center at 11:30 a.m., a regular school lunch for students in the CCHS cafeteria at 12:10 p.m. and a Thanksgiving meal for all students and their guests from 12:30 p.m. to 1 p.m..
“I didn’t want (any) student to feel left out, so I came up with the idea of (a) family and friends Thanksgiving because anyone can be family.”
— Keshay Hull-Taylor,
CCHS Family Engagement Specialist
CCHS Family Engagement Specialist Keshay Hull-Taylor started this event in 2022, wanting an inclusive celebration for all students. Subsequently, the event remained open to all CCHS students and two guests of their choosing, not exclusive to parents.
“Three years ago, we had a ‘Father and Son Lunch and Dinner,’ and a lot of kids got discouraged, because (not) everyone (has) their father,” Hull-Taylor said. “I didn’t want (any) student to feel left out, so I came up with the idea of (a) family and friends Thanksgiving because anyone can be family.”
Although CCHS Director Jessie Draper didn’t attend the 2024 Thanksgiving event, she observed positive responses from faculty who did, and saw it as a valuable opportunity to bridge the gap between CCHS faculty and students’ families.
“I got a lot of positive feedback (about past events) that teachers, families and students were all in the same space together at the same time, just enjoying each other’s company, as opposed to talking about attendance and grades and behavior,” Draper said.
While Hull-Taylor has noticed increased community engagement after hosting the Thanksgiving events, from food donations from Billups Grove Baptist Church to volunteers at CCHS’s BINGO! Title I and Curriculum Night, her focus has always been on the students.
“Some kids don’t experience a Thanksgiving dinner over the (fall) break, (and) some students don’t have family (in Athens) to have a Thanksgiving dinner,” Hull-Taylor said. “For the (students) that don’t get (that) experience, (CCHS gives) it to (them).”
