Thinking back to the first night before my time as a VISTA I was definitely a nervous wreck. I really had no idea what I had gotten myself into. When people asked me what I'd be doing I told them I honestly didn't know but that I would in some way be working to improve education or helping students out. I never would have thought that I would be working on such a huge project that will hopefully be bringing together so many of our students to help improve literacy rates in South Carolina.
I've definitely learned a ton, on so many levels. For one, I always knew South Carolina didn't have the greatest schools in the nation but I was completely unaware that almost 3/4 of the fourth graders in this state read at a below proficient level. During the year I had a meeting with a representative from Teach for America who told me that when citys are determining how many prisons to build the one statistic that they use to determine this is third grade reading scores. If this is the case South Carolina is about to get a ton of prisons. To me this is appalling and unacceptable. I really hope that my work as a VISTA will make an impact on those numbers and help bring South Carolina's reading scores back up. I also hope that this will directly correlate to reducing the number of high school dropouts which, currently, South Carolina has the most of any other state. I believe wholeheartdly that education and literacy are what we need to improve so many of the problems in our state, particularly poverty. I can't wait to see the impact this program can make.
Beyond all this I've also learned so many other things that will help me in my professional life. I've had numerous meetings with representatives from various agencies which have taught me how to carry myself and how to behave in a business setting. Through tutoring at St. Lawrence Place I have learned the importance of setting goals and motivating students to help them achieve all that they can.
I feel like this post has been very rambly and all over the place but I just wanted to say how grateful I am for my time as a VISTA. I have learned so much about myself, literacy, and making a difference in my community. I will continue to fight for the improvement of public schools and I encourage everyone to actively seek out ways in which you too can make a difference for the issues that you care about.
Madison
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Friday, July 20, 2012
Hello everyone.
It's been a crazy few weeks for me here at SLP, and in general.
I missed a few days of work in the past two weeks, which I wasn't too happy about. Unfortunately I missed some of the events that I helped sign the kids up for, including Cocky's Reading Express, and Pigskin Poets. Even though I wasn't able to attend, the kids had a great time.
Something new and fun I was able to do was make the thank you card and deliver it with the kids to Wal-Mart. We brought some of the kids who live here at SLP to deliver it and they had a good time. It was nice of them to be able to get out and do something like that. We also got to go tour Williams-Brice Stadium, which was awesome. We got to go into all of the special suites and locker rooms, and even play on the field for a little bit. The kids absolutely loved that. Today we took them to Pitas, the Mediterranean restaurant. They got to try gyros and lamb, which most of them ended up really enjoying. We brought them to try and encourage them to try new things, and even though some of them were hesitant, I was proud of them for giving it a shot.
They're going swimming in about an hour, which will be good since it's so hot. They're finishing with art now, so I guess I should get back to them.
See you all this afternoon. :)
It's been a crazy few weeks for me here at SLP, and in general.
I missed a few days of work in the past two weeks, which I wasn't too happy about. Unfortunately I missed some of the events that I helped sign the kids up for, including Cocky's Reading Express, and Pigskin Poets. Even though I wasn't able to attend, the kids had a great time.
Something new and fun I was able to do was make the thank you card and deliver it with the kids to Wal-Mart. We brought some of the kids who live here at SLP to deliver it and they had a good time. It was nice of them to be able to get out and do something like that. We also got to go tour Williams-Brice Stadium, which was awesome. We got to go into all of the special suites and locker rooms, and even play on the field for a little bit. The kids absolutely loved that. Today we took them to Pitas, the Mediterranean restaurant. They got to try gyros and lamb, which most of them ended up really enjoying. We brought them to try and encourage them to try new things, and even though some of them were hesitant, I was proud of them for giving it a shot.
They're going swimming in about an hour, which will be good since it's so hot. They're finishing with art now, so I guess I should get back to them.
See you all this afternoon. :)
Well it's been a while since I've been here huh? Wow so much has been going on these past few weeks and I am very excited to be able to be at the forefront of the great initiatives which will be taking place soon. Working at Big Brothers, Big Sisters has been such an eye opening experience for me. I have always been volunteering and have always had a passion for giving back to the communities in which I am a productive member of. But I haven't really paid much attention to the work it takes to run these organizations and to get partners and people involved. I work with Heidi Johnson, CEO of BBBS in Columbia, and I know from experience when I would want to volunteer or do something, it was always easy, say so and do it. But here at an actual agency, there is so much more time and energy you have to put into it. It's not as easy as just saying we want to do this and then go forth and be successful.
With that being said, I am pleased to announce that Big Brothers, Big Sisters will potentially become partners with USC either this year or next year with my help. This is something that I am very pleased to be a part of, and definitely something I hope to continue to be able to see through. I have been meeting and talking with so many different people in the nearby areas including the president of Student United Way, other BBBS agencies, and other universities who have partnerships with non-profits. That's where my awe comes into play, the amount of work it takes to build these relationships and make connections can be a very big job....I just hope that I can handle doing it!
One of the challenges that I am seeing before actually setting up this partnership with USC are immediate problems I foresee as a result of starting a partnership. For example, BBBS is a non-profit, they don't have a lot of access funds laying about to support this organization, I see student participation also being a problem, as well as gaining community partners to tag with this organization. These are all concerns that I have, and I don't want to make the wrong decision in doing so, but I do wish to see more students becoming involved with BBBS.
The need for volunteers is always something that is going to be consistent, and unfortunately BBBS can't control how many people want to get involved, all we can do is recruit and hope for the best. As a summer intern, I have made it my challenge to recruit at least 10 volunteers and have them go through with the entire process and becoming Bigs with our organization. There is nothing we can't do if we all pull together, work as one, and start something BIG!
In the weeks and months to come, I look forward to seeing how everything I have worked so hard on plays out. I guess that is one of the most rewarding parts...seeing your hard work pay off.
Until next time,
Davontae
With that being said, I am pleased to announce that Big Brothers, Big Sisters will potentially become partners with USC either this year or next year with my help. This is something that I am very pleased to be a part of, and definitely something I hope to continue to be able to see through. I have been meeting and talking with so many different people in the nearby areas including the president of Student United Way, other BBBS agencies, and other universities who have partnerships with non-profits. That's where my awe comes into play, the amount of work it takes to build these relationships and make connections can be a very big job....I just hope that I can handle doing it!
One of the challenges that I am seeing before actually setting up this partnership with USC are immediate problems I foresee as a result of starting a partnership. For example, BBBS is a non-profit, they don't have a lot of access funds laying about to support this organization, I see student participation also being a problem, as well as gaining community partners to tag with this organization. These are all concerns that I have, and I don't want to make the wrong decision in doing so, but I do wish to see more students becoming involved with BBBS.
The need for volunteers is always something that is going to be consistent, and unfortunately BBBS can't control how many people want to get involved, all we can do is recruit and hope for the best. As a summer intern, I have made it my challenge to recruit at least 10 volunteers and have them go through with the entire process and becoming Bigs with our organization. There is nothing we can't do if we all pull together, work as one, and start something BIG!
In the weeks and months to come, I look forward to seeing how everything I have worked so hard on plays out. I guess that is one of the most rewarding parts...seeing your hard work pay off.
Until next time,
Davontae
Corridor of Shame and more ...
Hello! I'll try to keep this post shorter than the last but I just wanted to talk about a meeting that Theresa and I had yesterday. We got to meet with Bud Ferrillo who was the director and producer of the Corridor of Shame documentary. It was such an informative and eye-opening meeting. As someone who is paasionate about education reform and improving schools for under privileged children I love being able to talk about issues as I was able to yesterday.
Bud told Theresa and I all about the current legislation and legal issues that have led to today's problems in rural South Carolina schools. The case that was mentioned in the movie was the longest case in SC history and, unfortunately, ruled in favor of the state. However, Bud told us that the case is being retried this September with the SC Supreme Court. The hope is that SC schools will benefit in a change in the constitution from education being 'minimally adequate' to high quality.
I think that this is so important because every child deserves the opportunity to live life to the fullest and take advantage of every opportunity available. It shouldn't be dependent on their zip codes or the schools they go to. Bud made a point that I whole-heartdly agree with and that is that most of the problems facing low-income communities (teen pregnancy, health, etc.) can be reversed through high quality education. Right now Bud has a petition that will be shown to legislatures about changing the education standards in South Carolina and I encourage everyone to take the time to add their name to that list and give every child a fighting chance. I'll place a link below.
I hope everyone has a great weekend and rest of the day!!
Madison
http://www.goodbyeminimallyadequate.com
Bud told Theresa and I all about the current legislation and legal issues that have led to today's problems in rural South Carolina schools. The case that was mentioned in the movie was the longest case in SC history and, unfortunately, ruled in favor of the state. However, Bud told us that the case is being retried this September with the SC Supreme Court. The hope is that SC schools will benefit in a change in the constitution from education being 'minimally adequate' to high quality.
I think that this is so important because every child deserves the opportunity to live life to the fullest and take advantage of every opportunity available. It shouldn't be dependent on their zip codes or the schools they go to. Bud made a point that I whole-heartdly agree with and that is that most of the problems facing low-income communities (teen pregnancy, health, etc.) can be reversed through high quality education. Right now Bud has a petition that will be shown to legislatures about changing the education standards in South Carolina and I encourage everyone to take the time to add their name to that list and give every child a fighting chance. I'll place a link below.
I hope everyone has a great weekend and rest of the day!!
Madison
http://www.goodbyeminimallyadequate.com
Friday, July 13, 2012
Hello!
I hope everyone is having a great Friday! This Wednesday I got to go on a Cocky's Reading Express trip which was so fun. I reccomend everyone go on one during their time at Carolina, you won't regret it.
We met early Wednesday morning and took the new Cocky's Reading Express bus down to Bamburg, South Carolina. We went into the library where we had an audience of close to 100 people! There were 5 volunteers and Cocky. All 5 of us read a story and talked to the kids about why reading is important in our lives. During the 3rd story Cocky comes out and surprises the audience and helps act out some of the books. He gets the kids involved and pulls them up on stage and protests anything purple and orange. All the kids were so excited to see Cocky and found him hilarious. After all the books were read the kids got to have their pictures made with Cocky and they all got to pick out a free book to take home with them as long as they promised Cocky that they would read every single day. It was such a great experience to be a part of and I think that the kids really liked hearing the stories with Cocky.
After Bamburg we drove a few miles to Blackville which was a super tiny city. We had lunch at an amazing restaraunt called Miller's Bread Basket. Everything was home cooked and delicious and we got to hear some interesting stories from Uncle Ray, who has worked at the restaraunt for a very long time. It doesn't usually happen but Cocky made a surprise visit at this restaraunt and got himself a free meal!
After lunch we did our final presentation at the Blackville Library. It was a much smaller audience but they were very appreciative and you could tell it really meant a lot to the families and kids that we came to them. They were excited to receive their books and take pictures with Cocky.
We lieft Blackville and played Who Wants to be a Millionaire the whole way home. This was such a fun and rewarding experience and I will definitely be going on another trip. I wish I had taken some pictures to show everyone but if you like Cocky's Reading Express on Facebook I'm sure they'll be uploading some very soon.
Outside of Cocky's Reading Express I'm really trying to focus a lot of my energy on the little girl that I am tutroing at St. Lawrence Place. She is 5 and doesn't yet know her alphabet. We only get 30 minutes together twice a week and I'm really struggling to get her to sit down and focus so yesterday I made a trip to the dollar store for some supplies. I've made her a laminated chart with every letter on it. Once she proves to me that she can identify a letter she gets to put a sticker over it. Once she gets five stickers I'm going to let her have a prize that I got at the Dollar Store. I also promised her that if she can complete that whole chart and learn all her letters by the end of July that I will throw a celebratory ice cream party at SLP for her and all of the other children there. To keep her on track I bought a dry erase board and I'm letting her show me which letters she wants to learn and we're taking turns drawing them on the board. Yesterday was the first day that I tried this and she stayed focused the entire 30 minutes! We only got through 4 letters but I was so glad to have her attention the entire time. I'm going to try and come up with fun ways for her to do letters each time such as sensory bags, playdough, etc. I really, really want to get her to know these letters.
Whew, sorry I know that was a crazy long post but I just wanted to give an update on some good little things that have been happening! Can't wait to hear more about everyone elses experiences (:
Madison
I hope everyone is having a great Friday! This Wednesday I got to go on a Cocky's Reading Express trip which was so fun. I reccomend everyone go on one during their time at Carolina, you won't regret it.
We met early Wednesday morning and took the new Cocky's Reading Express bus down to Bamburg, South Carolina. We went into the library where we had an audience of close to 100 people! There were 5 volunteers and Cocky. All 5 of us read a story and talked to the kids about why reading is important in our lives. During the 3rd story Cocky comes out and surprises the audience and helps act out some of the books. He gets the kids involved and pulls them up on stage and protests anything purple and orange. All the kids were so excited to see Cocky and found him hilarious. After all the books were read the kids got to have their pictures made with Cocky and they all got to pick out a free book to take home with them as long as they promised Cocky that they would read every single day. It was such a great experience to be a part of and I think that the kids really liked hearing the stories with Cocky.
After Bamburg we drove a few miles to Blackville which was a super tiny city. We had lunch at an amazing restaraunt called Miller's Bread Basket. Everything was home cooked and delicious and we got to hear some interesting stories from Uncle Ray, who has worked at the restaraunt for a very long time. It doesn't usually happen but Cocky made a surprise visit at this restaraunt and got himself a free meal!
After lunch we did our final presentation at the Blackville Library. It was a much smaller audience but they were very appreciative and you could tell it really meant a lot to the families and kids that we came to them. They were excited to receive their books and take pictures with Cocky.
We lieft Blackville and played Who Wants to be a Millionaire the whole way home. This was such a fun and rewarding experience and I will definitely be going on another trip. I wish I had taken some pictures to show everyone but if you like Cocky's Reading Express on Facebook I'm sure they'll be uploading some very soon.
Outside of Cocky's Reading Express I'm really trying to focus a lot of my energy on the little girl that I am tutroing at St. Lawrence Place. She is 5 and doesn't yet know her alphabet. We only get 30 minutes together twice a week and I'm really struggling to get her to sit down and focus so yesterday I made a trip to the dollar store for some supplies. I've made her a laminated chart with every letter on it. Once she proves to me that she can identify a letter she gets to put a sticker over it. Once she gets five stickers I'm going to let her have a prize that I got at the Dollar Store. I also promised her that if she can complete that whole chart and learn all her letters by the end of July that I will throw a celebratory ice cream party at SLP for her and all of the other children there. To keep her on track I bought a dry erase board and I'm letting her show me which letters she wants to learn and we're taking turns drawing them on the board. Yesterday was the first day that I tried this and she stayed focused the entire 30 minutes! We only got through 4 letters but I was so glad to have her attention the entire time. I'm going to try and come up with fun ways for her to do letters each time such as sensory bags, playdough, etc. I really, really want to get her to know these letters.
Whew, sorry I know that was a crazy long post but I just wanted to give an update on some good little things that have been happening! Can't wait to hear more about everyone elses experiences (:
Madison
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Monday, July 9, 2012
Hey guys!
Just wanted to show you what I've been busy with today. We recently got a grant from Wal-Mart for our program, so I decided to make a thank you card for them. I'm writing, "Thank You for Caring About Us", and then having the kids do their hand prints with paint and sign their names under them. Ashley, one of the case workers, and I are taking the card and a few kids on Wednesday to present the card to Wal-Mart. I'll post a picture of the finished product once we get finsihed making it beautiful. :)
Thursday, July 5, 2012
And the fun continues...
Hello everyone!
I hope everyone had a great holiday yesterday! It was such a tease being off for one day and I'm already wishing it was the weekend.
I've been really busy here at St. Lawrence Place. We've been going on trips daily like usual, but I've been trying to keep myself busy doing more research and office work as well. I've been trying to find fun things to take the kids to and have them participate in, and it's been pretty successful so far. One of the things I've been working on is getting us registered with the organization called First Book that Madison hooked me up with. It's an organization that gives free and very reduced priced books to organizations that have at least 70% of the population they serve in poverty. Pretty much how it works is you have to apply everytime they have new books available and then they contact you if you are awarded the books. All you have to pay is the shipping, so it's an awesome deal. You can request up to 3 books in each age group at a time, but as many copies as you would like. I think this will be great for the kids here at SLP. I'm thinking abour having them read the book, and then do some sort of creative activity about their interpretation of the book. I hope we are awarded the books because I'm super excited about it!
Another thing I've been doing is looking at things for the kids to do with the Richland County Public Library. I've been using the material that Madison gave me to find cool stuff that I think the kids would like. I've been focusing on cultural stuff that's different that they might not get to experience elsewhere. I've signed us up for PigSkin Poets, which is where members of the USC football team come and read to the kids and then sign autographs. This one isn't super cultural or anything, but I know they'll love it. The older kids went and toured Williams-Brice today and loved it, so I know they'll be excited to meet the players. One that I'm really excited about is called In Your Dreams. Members of different Native American tribes are speaking and sharing about their cultures, and then the kids get to make their own dream catchers. I think that this is going to be really good for them and hopefully they'll take something away from it. A few others that I'm looking into are an Origami class, some basic Spanish classes, and an interactive presentation from the SC Aquarium. It's difficult trying to schedule these because a lot of the schedule is already set in stone, but I'm doing what I can to make sure that the kids have a lot of good memories here at camp!
I can't believe we're over half way done with the summer already. It's really a bittersweet feeling at this point. I'm glad to be starting school again soon and getting into my Upper Division Nursing classes, but I know I'm going to miss the kids like crazy. I hope these next few weeks go by quickly enough not to drag on, but not so quick that they're gone before I know it.
I hope everyone had a great holiday yesterday! It was such a tease being off for one day and I'm already wishing it was the weekend.
I've been really busy here at St. Lawrence Place. We've been going on trips daily like usual, but I've been trying to keep myself busy doing more research and office work as well. I've been trying to find fun things to take the kids to and have them participate in, and it's been pretty successful so far. One of the things I've been working on is getting us registered with the organization called First Book that Madison hooked me up with. It's an organization that gives free and very reduced priced books to organizations that have at least 70% of the population they serve in poverty. Pretty much how it works is you have to apply everytime they have new books available and then they contact you if you are awarded the books. All you have to pay is the shipping, so it's an awesome deal. You can request up to 3 books in each age group at a time, but as many copies as you would like. I think this will be great for the kids here at SLP. I'm thinking abour having them read the book, and then do some sort of creative activity about their interpretation of the book. I hope we are awarded the books because I'm super excited about it!
Another thing I've been doing is looking at things for the kids to do with the Richland County Public Library. I've been using the material that Madison gave me to find cool stuff that I think the kids would like. I've been focusing on cultural stuff that's different that they might not get to experience elsewhere. I've signed us up for PigSkin Poets, which is where members of the USC football team come and read to the kids and then sign autographs. This one isn't super cultural or anything, but I know they'll love it. The older kids went and toured Williams-Brice today and loved it, so I know they'll be excited to meet the players. One that I'm really excited about is called In Your Dreams. Members of different Native American tribes are speaking and sharing about their cultures, and then the kids get to make their own dream catchers. I think that this is going to be really good for them and hopefully they'll take something away from it. A few others that I'm looking into are an Origami class, some basic Spanish classes, and an interactive presentation from the SC Aquarium. It's difficult trying to schedule these because a lot of the schedule is already set in stone, but I'm doing what I can to make sure that the kids have a lot of good memories here at camp!
I can't believe we're over half way done with the summer already. It's really a bittersweet feeling at this point. I'm glad to be starting school again soon and getting into my Upper Division Nursing classes, but I know I'm going to miss the kids like crazy. I hope these next few weeks go by quickly enough not to drag on, but not so quick that they're gone before I know it.
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
(Madison)
We're oveer halfway done, its crazy!
Today I'm spending some more time talking to people who are interested in our Carolina READS program by emailing and calling them. I'm really excited that we already have so many people signed up who are going to help make a difference in improving SC's literacy.
Last week I finished up all of my meetings. Basically these meetings were with various agencies and programs throughout the Midlands that promote literacy. Some of the ones I met with were the Department of Juvenile Justice, Challenging Howizons Program, and Cocky's Reading Express. During these meetings I was able to learn a lot more about the organizations and found out different ways that our students can help them through volunteering and work study.
Next week Theresa and I will be meeting with the Financial Aid Office to get the ball rolling on our work study partners. This is really important because half of the people who have signed up are work study students and they're trying to find their job placements now for next year. In the meeting we'll be discussing the new program, Carolina READS, and taking care of all the paperwork for our agencies who want to host work study students.
In addition, I'm also trying to brainstorm some ways to market our new program in the fall to volunteers. We're really hoping that this will be a big success and several students will get on board.
Ok, well I've got to go to the library now where I'm helping to sign people up for the summer reading challenge but I'll be sure to update again soon.
I hope everyone has a great Fourth of July!!
Today I'm spending some more time talking to people who are interested in our Carolina READS program by emailing and calling them. I'm really excited that we already have so many people signed up who are going to help make a difference in improving SC's literacy.
Last week I finished up all of my meetings. Basically these meetings were with various agencies and programs throughout the Midlands that promote literacy. Some of the ones I met with were the Department of Juvenile Justice, Challenging Howizons Program, and Cocky's Reading Express. During these meetings I was able to learn a lot more about the organizations and found out different ways that our students can help them through volunteering and work study.
Next week Theresa and I will be meeting with the Financial Aid Office to get the ball rolling on our work study partners. This is really important because half of the people who have signed up are work study students and they're trying to find their job placements now for next year. In the meeting we'll be discussing the new program, Carolina READS, and taking care of all the paperwork for our agencies who want to host work study students.
In addition, I'm also trying to brainstorm some ways to market our new program in the fall to volunteers. We're really hoping that this will be a big success and several students will get on board.
Ok, well I've got to go to the library now where I'm helping to sign people up for the summer reading challenge but I'll be sure to update again soon.
I hope everyone has a great Fourth of July!!
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