Club Meeting: Randall and Amber Parr on EAFK

Randall Parr will describe the history and progression of Early Act First Knight (EAFK).  AUARC has been long time sponsors of EAFK at Pecan Springs Elementary.

After ten years as a professional multimedia producer and part-time seminary student, Randall Parr was selected by the United States Navy to become an officer in the Chaplain Corps. In addition to providing ministry and counseling to sailors, Marines and their families in the Western Pacific and continental United States, he created award-winning media training productions for the Navy Chaplain School, along with large-scale motivational events for military recruits that were regularly used across service lines at Navy, Marine Corps, Army and Air Force training centers across the nation.

Completing his military service, Randall developed a creative educational program that would teach character-building to elementary and middle school students through the theme of knights and chivalry from Arthurian literature. Known as “The Knight Life”, this program was awarded a grant from The Washington Times in the year 2000 for being voted one of the most influential community services in the United States. Nominated for the award by Senator Jim Inhofe (of Oklahoma), Randall and “The Knight Life” team were honored at the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. by members of the President’s Cabinet, United States Senate and Congress.

In 2006, Randall introduced a plan to The Rotary Club of Boerne, TX, which would transform “The Knight Life” program into a new kind of service outreach for Rotary Clubs and make the Four Way Test come alive for young schoolchildren. By combining daily classroom academics, campus visits by armored knights, and the onsite guidance of local Rotarians in conducting campus service initiatives, elementary and middle school students could internalize the noble traits resulting in “service above self” during their most formative years as a part of their daily educational experience.

Dubbed “EarlyAct FirstKnight” (a.k.a. “EAFK”), the new program was successfully piloted in 2007 at an elementary campus in Boerne with 500 students through the sponsorship of the Boerne Rotarians. Having since added Social Skills development to its character-building track, EAFK has expanded as a Rotary Project to schools in eleven Rotary Districts, ranging from Texas to California, to the Carolinas; has had events visited and participated in by the past five Rotary International Presidents; and, is presently being studied by approximately 50,000 children every school day, all of whom are using the Four Way Test as their chief behavioral discipline.

EAFK’s first international expansion is planned for the Fall of 2018 in Trinidad, through the joint sponsorship of the Rotary Clubs of La Grange, TX and Central Port of Spain

For more information, see http://www.eafk.org/