Students gain experience, teach skills through AmeriCorps
Reham Ariqat, Staff Writer

You have seen them in your classrooms at the beginning of each semester, year after year, classroom after classroom. The members and staff at AmeriCorps do not fail to get themselves noticed by giving their short presentations, passing out their pamphlets, and spreading awareness about their program with an intense determination.

Yes, it’s a program that works with students and their families, and yes, you do get paid for having a position with the program, but it’s also a great opportunity for those who are looking to go into education as a career or even for those who just want to give back to the community.

Sonoma SERVES is a program whose mission is quite simple: “To make a positive difference in the lives of Sonoma County’s children and families.”

Through AmeriCorps (the domestic Peace Corps), Sonoma SERVES is able to give students the opportunity to give back to the community and to help those in need through many ways: working with children during or after school, developing leadership skills, participating in evening enrichment programs, and by building a connection to the community itself.

“SSU has been running AmeriCorps programs since 1998 and they’ve just continued to grow and become better quality,” said Grants and Service Leaders Coordinator Sara Fuller.  “Right now we’re serving about 1,500 children and families in southwest Santa Rosa.  We’re in three different districts, and serve seven elementary schools and one middle school through our local programs, which are COOL School, COOL Families, and Project SCHOLARS.”

Through COOL (Creating Opportunities for Outstanding Learning) School, an after school program, students are provided with academic tutoring, physical education, and other constructive enrichment activities that “make learning fun and place an emphasis in service learning and character education.”

“Cool school is a wonderful opportunity for students who are interested in going into teaching or social work because they’re able to coordinate a classroom with 3 other AmeriCorps members,” said Fuller.  “They’re able to coordinate community activities and service learning projects and are able to try out being a teacher or mentor, so it’s really a neat opportunity.”

The second local program, Project SCHOLARS, is a daytime tutoring program where members meet with four students four times a week for 40 minutes and is mainly focused on helping students with their reading skills.  These students, who range from kindergarten to sixth grade, go through this rigorous program to work on mastering reading skills that are more suitable for the grade level that they currently are at.

COOL Families, the last of the three local programs, “is a hybrid of the previous two programs in that mentors work in groups again, but this time, the groups are a little more individually focused,” said Fuller.  “In the evenings, we invite the parents in and partner with the SRJC who go in and teach GED and ESL classes to the parents while we support the kids academically.

“What’s really neat about this is that the kids are able to tutor their parents with their English skills and it just offers a more familial feel to it than some of our other programs.”

Although being involved with these programs is rewarding, some students who are interested don’t get the chance to become members due to schedule conflicts.  “Ever since I started at SSU, I really wanted to join AmeriCorps,” said junior Molly Burke.  “I love little kids, and the money would have been an awesome bonus to it, but with my crazy class schedule, I didn’t have enough blocks of free time to join any of the programs.”

“I think one of the most exciting things about this program is watching the college student mature and become comfortable in a classroom setting and in the community,” said Fuller.  “I think you never look at any situation the same after you’ve worked with the population as intimately as we work with it in that afterwards, you’re always looking for solutions and always looking to make the world a better place.  That’s the biggest gift that we can offer the college students.”

She continued, “[AmeriCorps] is huge.  To be able to see the world with new eyes is very important.  I think a lot of students come in and aren’t quite sure of what to make of the world. They have this idealistic view of wanting to make an impact but aren’t sure how to do it; this program gives a really concrete way to make a difference.”

Although the AmeriCorps programs have begun, there are always volunteer opportunities at any of the three programs.  For more information, contact Callen Kurpinsky at 664-2471.