By JANIE HARRIS
Staff Writer
Do you know how to balance a check book? How about sewing a button? One student started a new club called Bits of Life at Piedmont College to teach other students skills not taught in a classroom.
Freshman Amy DeGrood felt her parents prepared her extremely well for life, but she realized a lot of people didn’t know how to do many of the things she thought were necessary. Plus, she wanted to expand her own knowledge of the life skills she may need after college.
“If I want to learn this stuff, other people probably do too, so why not do it together?” said DeGrood.
According to DeGrood, Bits of Life was created to promote students’ independence. The club teaches skills that everyone will use one day including doing laundry, how to budget yourself, and more.
Bits of Life Vice President Jessica Bunn said, “It is a club to teach anyone who wants to learn about things that people should know in life.”
Bits of Life meets every other week. Megan Kearney, the chaplain for Bits of Life, explained that at each meeting there is a helpful hint, which is unrelated to what the group learns that day, given to the group along with a quote that is related to the lesson learned. DeGrood then teaches the group a needed skill.
Kearney stressed that everyone should come out and join the club for a number of reasons, like everyone in the club will be CPR certified by the end of the year and it looks good on a resume.
“It is nice to know you could save someone’s life,” said Kearney.
In their last meeting, the group discussed the importance of budgeting with the help of resources from financial advisor Dave Ramsey.
DeGrood wants students at Piedmont to use the club as a resource. She urges that the club can be whatever a student needs it to be.
“I just want it to reflect what everyone is interested in learning,” said DeGrood.
The club is open to anyone who would like to come, and the officers are extremely open to suggestions and new ideas. They have a suggestion box left out during every meeting.
The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 29 and will feature a lesson on how to balance a checkbook by Teresa Harper from Community Bank and Trust. The meeting will be held in GB Lobby at 2 p.m.