Rewards of reading
Published: May 5, 2005
Kids get books through volunteer program.
Reading used to be harder for 9-year-old Summer Hurt, but thanks to some one-on-one time with a volunteer, it’s becoming more and more fun.
“Reading books using the reading strategies helped me through them,” Summer said. “It (is) still hard reading, but it’s fun. It takes me on an adventure.”
Summer was one of 20 students at Parker-Bennett-Curry Elementary who took part in One on One: Practicing Reading with Students, a program in which volunteers from the community came into the school for 35 minutes per week to help kids with reading. Designed to help kids who are struggling slightly with reading, the program joins kids and adults for 16 weeks.
Tuesday was the culminating celebration for the program, in which kids and volunteers got together one last time at Barnes & Noble Booksellers on Campbell Lane to pick out $15 worth of books for each kid. The money came from The Partnership for Kentucky Schools, a coalition of Kentucky businesses, educational groups and government entities that developed One on One.
“This is our get-together, our celebration of the program,” said Frances Porter, who was Summer’s partner. “It went by fast, especially after Christmas. It seemed to fly by.”
Porter was one of several members of Bowling Green Presbyterian Church who signed on to help a kid learn to read. Several people from BB&T Bank participated as well.
Summer was picking out a Lizzie McGuire book because that’s her “favorite movie on Disney.” Nearby, classmates Jennifer Mendoza, 7, and Jaquinda Jarrett and Tayanna Sept, both 8, were all picking out the books they’d like to read. Jaquinda had a three-pack of books, which included “A Little Princess,” “The Secret Garden” and “Anne of Green Gables.”
“I really enjoy reading now,” Jaquinda said.
Jennifer had a book called “Me and My Friends: The Book of Us,” which she said is about friends who share secrets with each other.
Pete Hoechner, a site coordinator at Parker-Bennett-Curry, has acted as the liaison between the school and One on One. He said reading is one of the school’s top priorities, and the program has helped students move forward.
Volunteers took time out of their work days to come to the school and help the kids – something the school is very grateful for, he said.
“It’s an intensive piece to catch them up,” Hoechner said. “We … have some youngsters that needed their skills pumped up a bit. … And there’s more to it than literacy; this is an opportunity to build relationships.”
Alice Davis, project manager for One on One, said the program is going on in 12 schools across the state. Parker-Bennett-Curry is the only school in the Bowling Green area that has it.
Students are picked for the program based on recommendations from teachers.
“We’ve had great success in helping kids catch up,” Davis said.
If you enjoyed this good news Subscribe to Good News Blog
Share this
To share this simply copy and paste one of the below URL's: