Meet Tamica Branaum of Kyrene de las Lomas PTO in Ahwatukee

Today we’d like to introduce you to Tamica Branaum.

Tamica, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I started volunteering with a friend of mine to help out at the school to be more involved in my daughters life. I had recently had a new baby so getting out of the house and interacting with adults was a nice change of pace. I was asked to get a planning committee together to plan the annual Family Fun Night and those women who helped me with that became the new PTO Board at Lomas. It is one of the most magical group of women and I really would not be able to do all that I do without them. We all play very vital roles on the board and are constantly having a great time doing it. We made A LOT of changes within the school and were able to raise over $19,000 at our first fundraiser of the year which is unheard of at our title 1 school. With that we were able to pay for our entire year budgets of plans and were able to decline some additional fundraisers that were originally planned for the year. We have added many more fun events for our families as well as were able to start a wonderful program called Watch D.O.G.S and at our kick off event had over 200 people in attendance. With the partnership of our new principal we have made a huge difference to make Lomas more of a community feel that we were hoping for and continue to build on that each event we put out.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
I feel as in life, there are always bumps in the road but we never looked at them as a bad thing just as how we can make it better. Overall it has been pretty smooth riding. We were all new to our positions between the Principal, Head Secretary and the PTO Board that we did not have a whole lot of insight in what was the “right” way which made it even more fun because we had a lot of space to learn and do our own thing.

Please tell us about Kyrene de las Lomas PTO.
We are a nonprofit that serves the title one school Kyrene de las Lomas Elementary school. I am the PTO President and I believe I specialize in being on site as often as possible and listening to all input as well as striving to build a stronger community each and every day. I am most proud of all the events we have been able to make happen and all the little and big things that we have been able to pay for so that our staff and students were able to have more and feel appreciated. I could never be a teacher, it takes a special person to do that job and I strive to help them feel appreciated and help them do their jobs by helping to pay for things they normally would not be able to have or might have spent their own money on in the past as well as try to make their lives easier by taking care of dinner for them while they are at the school for 12 hours for conference days. What I feel like sets me apart or our team apart is communication. We are constantly communicating as a team and are constantly letting people know about the things we are doing through Facebook, email, flyers and the schools newsletter. We are also an open book and will answer any question that someone might have.

What were you like growing up?
Personality I would say super emotional, creative, organized and definitely hard working. If I say I’m going to do something I do it and I also lead with my heart. I was always interested in the back office type work and working behind the scenes. I have never been a person who liked being in the spotlight and I still don’t. I truly believe that our success has been a group effort.

Contact Info:

• Address: Kyrene de las Lomas Elementary
  11820 S Warner Elliot Loop, Phoenix, AZ 85044
• Website: https://www.kyrene.org/Page/21450
• Email: ptolomas@gmail.com
• Facebook: @KDLLPTO

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