FEATURE
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24 2014
Connecting with kids Photo contributed by Marika Lou
Students pass on love of reading through Story Time by Ben caldwell Staff Reporter
T
he Story Time Project gives Whitman students a chance to pass on their love for books by reading to children who might not otherwise have much literature in their lives. Story Time is one of five ongoing weekly service programs managed by the Student Engagement Center. It was started by Adjunct Instructor of Sport Studies Rebecca Thorpe and several others about 10 years ago and was officially recognized and funded by ASWC three years ago. Senior Marika Lou, the student intern in charge of the project, sends pairs of Whitman student volunteers to local elementary schools and daycares to read to children. According to their preferences, students are assigned to school programs either by choice or at random. Lou sends them either to one of six elementary schools, three daycares, the YWCA or
the Walla Walla Pediatric Clinic. The readers go in their pair once a week and read to the kids there for half an hour. The children range from ages five to nine. “In addition to reading, they engage the kids and ask them questions about the book and hopefully get them involved in the story. The goal is to not only cultivate a love for reading but also for critical thinking and analyzing plot and things like that,” said Lou. Lou volunteered as a reader for the Story Time Project for three years before applying to take the lead as the student intern. The program has remained high on her priority list for so long because this is the only program at Whitman that is literacy-focused. The other community service programs fall heavily on friendships and developing social relationships. “Reading has always been one of my favorite pastimes, and reading to others is something I enjoy ... I wanted a way to be-
come more involved in the program and do more to facilitate early literacy in this community and get Whitman students excited about books,” said Lou. The SEC also runs the College Coaches tutoring program for high school students, but Lou thinks it’s important to start sooner than that. “I’ve noticed a lot of discussion in the media about the importance of early literacy in kids, and how kids who aren’t read to by the time they are four or five are already behind their peers when they enter kindergarten,” said Lou. She is not alone in her conviction. At the beginning of every semester, students sign up to join the service listserv at the activities fair and apply to join the project as readers. First-year Peter Ramaley joined with one of his close friends after finding out about the project at the fall activities fair. Ramaley said he has enjoyed volunteering as a way to balance out the academic side of his first year of college. “It’s really fun, because you get to hang out with these preschoolers—they’re super energetic. They love it. When we
walk through the door they always scream ‘Story Time readers!’ ... and they come up and hug you, and sometimes they give you a picture they’ve drawn ... One of the cool things is you get to read them the books from your childhood and see how they experience it, which is always fun,” said Ramaley. First-year Forrest Arnold participated in the project last semester. Every Monday morning for four months, he walked to Green Park Elementary School with his partner and read to the bilingual students there. Arnold was assigned to Green Park’s Spanish immersion program because of his experience with the language. Though the SEC and Penrose Library both have collections of children’s literature, Forrest always went to the public library to access their larger Spanish collection. According to Arnold, the project proved educational for him as well as the children. He didn’t always understand all the stories, but he made sure he was able to pronounce everything. “Even beyond the expansion of vocabulary, it definitely [improved the] speaking skills that lead to fluency. My pronunciation
has become so much better than if I hadn’t done this program. And besides that, it’s a learning experience to be integrated into any kind of school experience where you’re actually part of a lesson plan, and you see how they work you into the class,” said Arnold. Arnold says it is beneficial in other ways too. He appreciates going to the library each week just to get off campus and get into the community. He thinks it’s important to bridge the divide between Whitman students and Walla Walla community members. “I think it’s really important to get out of the Whitman bubble, and it’s just such a great experience ... a low time commitment [and] high-enjoyment service opportunity,” said Arnold. Most importantly, the children love it too, according to Lou. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard of any readers telling me the kids are not interested in being read to, or don’t enjoy it, or don’t care. The kids, overwhelmingly, get really excited when the readers come to read to them,” said Lou. For Ramaley, the kids’ enthusiasm makes it all more than worthwhile. “I’ll definitely keep doing Story Time next year,” he said.
Classroom volunteers put high schoolers on road to college by Anna Zheng Staff Reporter
I Seniors Ethan Parrish and Kari Paustian (top photo) read to children once a week at a local daycare. Story Time also sends its volunteers to local elementary schools (above) to read aloud to students of different ages. Photo contributed by Katie Steen ADVERTISEMENTS
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n the spring of 2010, Whitman alumna Emily Lorente ‘11 started an outreach program called College Coaches, which focused on one-on-one mentorship for students at Walla Walla High School. When the program was founded, Lorente worked for Walla Walla High and paired high school students with Whitman students for one-on-one mentorship. The individualized aspect of the program allowed high school students to get personal academic help and guidance. But when the program moved to Whitman’s Student Engagement Center in 2011, the program shifted to a classroom model. Now, students volunteer as aides for a class called Guided Studies, which provides ninth and tenth graders with academic support. College Coaches has changed over the years but has not changed its main goal: helping high school students become college-bound through encouragement from positive role models and mentorship. Whitman students typically volunteer for one hour a week. Junior Nate Higby has volunteered with the program for two years. He views College Coaches as one of the few opportunities near campus where he can interact with Walla Walla High School students, and he wants to use his identity as a college student to help encourage and promote higher education. “It shows [the students that] Whitman cares,” said Higby. “The fact that we’re reaching out to them shows that we want them to succeed. When they know a really good school [like Whitman] is saying ‘You can do this,’ they start thinking college is viable. Our presence in [the classroom] alone puts college on their radar.” Not only are volunteers positive role models for students, they also provide academic support by helping the stu-
dents with homework and keeping them focused and on-task. “On any given day, you could be helping a student with algebra—if you remember it—or you could be helping someone with a paper,” sophomore Arden Robinette said. “Or it could be someone who says ‘Hey, I want to study psychology. What does Whitman have for psychology?’” According to volunteers, personally relating to the student can help bridge the gap between a high school and a college student. The volunteer has to be able to open up and relate to the student in order to reach them. “It’s like walking a line between being an interesting person that [the students] could consider, ‘Oh, it’s pretty cool that he’s going to college,’ and then once they feel a little more comfortable, that’s when you can breach more into a tutor,” said first-year Tim Kent. Kent decided to volunteer for the program because of his previous experience working with high school students when he took a gap year to coach basketball and baseball. He sees the relationship between the Whitman volunteer and the high school student as a balance between being a positive role model and a mentor with the ultimate goal of academic guidance. “[One of the College Coaches] was getting along pretty well with a boy who at first came in [and] was talking about getting into a fight after school,” Kent said. “It was nice to see because he came in really not thinking about school at all, and then once she got there and started talking to him about math, he kind of opened up a little more.” As the two developed a stronger relationship, they were eventually able to focus more on his schoolwork. Senior Natalie Pond, the College Coaches intern of two years, describes the volunteering experience as transcending the boundary between college and high
school. Volunteers must be willing to face the challenges present in a high school environment. “You kind of have to reorient yourself in a really positive way,” Pond said. “It does really great things for your character. It does put people in vulnerable and challenging places. High school is so unique because it is close to home and going back to that world is kind of a struggle.” Higby said his love for this program started before the shift in the program from a one-onone focus to a more open format in a classroom. Last year, he worked with a Walla Walla High School student who wanted to attend Whitman. “He was a junior at that time. He’s a senior now, and he got into Whitman, so that was a highlight of the program for me,” Higby said. “[It’s] knowing the fact that the time I spent with him and the work we’ve done together helped him achieve this amazing opportunity.” As the intern who oversees the College Coaches program, Pond believes it still has the potential to change and grow in the future. With the number of volunteers fluctuating between 16 and 25 each semester, Pond is able to pay more attention to each volunteer and respond to the needs of the program’s partner institutions. She hopes to build a stronger connection to other area high schools besides Walla Walla High. Currently, one Whitman student teaches an improvisation class on Friday afternoons at Lincoln High School. “We’re constantly into exploring new things [like classes at Lincoln],” Pond said. “[College Coaches] is such a growing and developing program and has so many open doors. It’s going to continue to be very much experimental, responding to the needs of the school. I’m always interested in what we can do differently. We’re so young [as a program].”