Program houses at Wooster have been a tradition since the 1970s. Students residing in houses must be involved in a type of service project in order to regularly volunteer, educate or involve themselves within the College or the Wooster community.† Over the years, many of these programs have served to positively bridge the gap between The College and Wooster community in a way that gives back to each party. One of these programs is carried out by the residents of Bryan House, who are engaged in a reading enrichment program at Cornerstone Elementary School to promote reading abilities among its students. For the past two years, the students involved in Cornerstone’s program have demonstrated a successful and dedicated group of young men who are more than committed to the program.
The students involved, co-founder and former student coordinator, Kurt Brown ’11, co-founder and former student coordinator Jake Dinkelaker ’11, curretn student coordinator Nathan Laslow ’11, Josh Kime ’11, Eric Keyes ’11, Jeremy Petit ’11, Matt Carlson ’11 and Mike Redick ’11 all regularly volunteer about two hours of their time each week to Cornerstone’s students and teachers.† During this time, the mentors visit various classrooms and engage in different activities with students in areas their teacher deems necessary in either one-on-one or in small groups.
The main goals of the program, according to their original proposal for a program house, “are to provide a program that will help young readers to gain a better knowledge of the English language, and [to] provide more exposure to the language in its written and oral form” fostered through constant interaction with students.† Another important goal of the Wooster students was to serve as role models for “some of the older students who are coming of ageÖand to dispel their notions of reading as ënot cool,’” but rather as something fun and enjoyable in addition to being a necessary tool for success in everyday life.† A benefit that Wooster’s students hoped they, as well as Cornerstone’s students and teachers, would appreciate would be a development of personal relationships with each other throughout the duration of the program and perhaps beyond it.
First grade teacher Heidi Gant spoke of the outstanding level of commitment these men have demonstrated throughout the semester and described their attendance as “amazing.”
“Often, our volunteers will start out strong and then fizzle out after a couple months,” she said. However, she also noted that the men of Bryan House, (which houses mostly current and former athletes), despite the fact that many of them are also leaders of varsity sports teams.† Over the past two years, Gant says she has experienced no problems with the program.
The support Bryan House offers Cornerstone’s students comes in many different forms.† In terms of literacy, the “Smart Cookie Program” is a way for the student to be rewarded for engaging in reading to their mentor in return for a cookie or a healthy snack.† For this, students will sit outside the classroom with their mentor and have one-on-one time to read or get help with reading.† This offers in-school practice to further develop their reading skills.† Mentors will also help a student who has fallen behind due to lack of attendance or simply needs extra help with the material.
Similarly, students who are ahead of their classmates will also receive accelerated help to prevent boredom and further enhance their reading skills.† While the original goal of the program was to provide help in literacy, mentors will also offer their help in math or other subjects a student is having trouble with, providing an array of assistance where teachers need the extra help.
Another important form of support Bryan House successfully offers to Cornerstone students are positive male role models or† “big brother” figures.† While Wooster’s students serve as role models inside the classroom, Gant expressed that even outside the classroom Cornerstone’s students can learn from their mentors.† By going to lunch, the mentors can demonstrate appropriate table manners as well as suitable conversation.† These skills may appear simple or obvious, but are valuable life skills to learn.† Similarly, in recess, students are able to learn the rules of games better as Gant said they often make up their own rules daily, learn to share and, again, learn appropriate behavior when interacting with other students.
Though there are many other programs worth continuing and featuring, such as the women of Lewis House who are training a guide dog and the men of Hider House who tutor fifth and sixth graders through the Ohio Reads/Lincoln Way Tutor Program, both programs involve seniors as well as juniors.† Thus, these programs are able to continue the tradition of their program.† Bryan House, however, is comprised only of seniors and does not have this option and are therefore reaching out to Wooster’s students in the hopes of being able to continue their program with Cornerstone Elementary School.
Brown noted that “the school teachers and administrators [at Cornerstone], as well as the program members, have voiced concerns regarding the program’s continuation, as many teachers feel it has measurably improved many of the students’ abilities in the classroom.” However, without another group to take over the program, the mentoring relationship between the College and Cornerstone could end on graduation day.
Although the program thus far has only had the involvement of men, Brown and Gant feel it important to ensure the program’s continuation regardless of gender, as they believe both men and women can be positive role models and mentors for Cornerstone’s students.
Similarly, faculty advisor of the program, Professor of Education Don Drouhard, praises the work these men have done and the positive impact they have made at Cornerstone. He hopes “that the program will continue and that the upcoming groups will be as dedicated as this group has been” and is sure that if someone is genuinely interested in the education of children that his program will be rewarding.
If interested in continuing this program as a group or individually, please contact either Kurt Brown (KBrown11@wooster.edu) or Don Drouhard (DDrouhard@wooster.edu) for more information.
If you are involved in a program house that you feel is important to this campus but might end when you and your housemates graduate and would like the Voice to feature you, please contact Elle Bloom at EBloom11@wooster.edu