Fall 2016 Community Partners
MONT 104S
AVID Worcester Public Schools / Monday-Friday, 7a-3p, for one two-hour time block / Office
Positive Directions / Monday or Wednesday, 1:45-3:15p or 3:30p-5p / CBL Fair
Nativity School of Worcester / Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday from 5:15p to 6:30p; or Wednesday from 3:30-5p / Office
Let’s Get Ready (by permission only) / Monday or Wednesday, 5:30-8:30p / Office
AVID Worcester Public Schools
Staff Contact:
Janet Dee Mathieu
Community Resource and AVID Specialist
Worcester Public Schools
20 Irving Street, #007
Worcester, MA 01609
Office: 508.799.1234
Organization Description:
AVID, (Advancement Via Individual Determination) is a college readiness system designed to increase the number of students who enroll in four-year colleges. Although AVID services all students, it focuses on the least served students in the academic middle. The formula is simple- raise expectations of students and, with the AVID support system in place, they will rise to the challenge.
AVID is in the elementary through twelfth grade in the Worcester Public Schools. In the elementary level the AVID strategies are embedded into the daily instruction. At the secondary level AVID is an approved credit bearing elective course taken during the day. For one class period a day, students learn organizational and study skills, work on critical thinking and asking probing questions, get academic help from college trained tutors and participate in motivational activities that make college attainable. The AVID Secondary site is a combined effort of a dedicated elective class and core content area classes to create a school-wide impact in middle and high school.
The mission of AVID is to close the achievement gap by preparing all students for college readiness and success in a global society.
CBL Opportunities:
Worcester Public Schools is recruiting college students to serve as AVID tutors by facilitating AVID tutorials. The AVID tutorial sessions are held twice a week during the AVID Elective class. During tutorials, the elective class is divided into several tutorial groups. Under the direction and supervision of the AVID Elective teacher, an AVID-trained college tutor facilitates the discussion and work. Tutoring takes place during the day in AVID classes. School day hours are 7:00 am to 3:00 pm. Training will be provided.
As an AVID tutor you will assist students by:
- Leading collaborative study groups (tutorials) in the AVID classroom using an inquiry process.
- Checking student notes and binders.
- Providing academic support.
- Acting as a role model.
- Providing encouragement, understanding and a personal connection to students.
- Facilitating access to rigorous curriculum.
Pre-service Requirements: CORIform, AVID application, AVID Tutor Training
Service Requirements: Monthly discussion group/AVID college tutors, AVID and Holy Cross
Positive Directions: Drop Out Prevention Program
South High Community School
170 Apricot Street, Worcester, MA 01603
Staff Contact:
Sue Sleigh
508-860-7700 ext 1475
508-799-3346
Organization Description:
Family Health Center of Worcester is a full-service health center open to all residents of Worcester and surrounding areas. Our mission is to improve the health and well-being of all residents in the Greater Worcester area, especially culturally diverse populations, by providing access to affordable, high quality, integrated, comprehensive, and respectful primary health care and social services, regardless of patients’ ability to pay.
Family Health Center offers family medicine, maternal child health, behavioral health, vision services, dentistry, nursing, a Walk In Center for urgent and primary care same-day visits, a low-cost pharmacy, lab, radiology, school-based health centers, refugee / immigrant health services, teen health clinic, ADHD clinic, INS clinic, an optical shop, flu vaccine clinics, health education and promotion, HIV counseling and testing, and public health programs for the early detection and prevention of disease.
Positive Directions is a drop-out prevention program that targets incoming 9th graders who are at high risk for high school dropout due to attendance, behavioral, academic and social issues. We intervene with twice a week tutoring and recreation at the YMCA, case management and community involvement.
CBL Opportunities:
Afterschool Tutoring Program
Meeting once a week, CBL volunteers provide homework help and mentorship to the Positive Directions youth. The tutoring program meets on Mondays and Wednesdays from 1:45 to 3:15 pm. The program needs approximately 5 tutors (per day) to work with these youth. Volunteers must be comfortable initiating a tutoring mentorship with teenage students. An outgoing personality will be useful in this role. A CORI background check is required and volunteers must attend an orientation session before beginning.
Afterschool Recreation Program
Meeting once a week, CBL volunteers will support that Positive Directions case manager in providing recreation for the students, leading or facilitating activities such as: fitness, team sports, rock wall climbing, swimming. The recreation program meets after tutoring on Mondays and Wednesdays from 3:30-5:00pm. This program needs 3 recreation volunteers (per day) to work with these youth. Volunteers must be comfortable in the areas of fitness and recreation as well as competent in a leadership role with teenagers. A CORI background check is required and volunteers must attend a program orientation as well as a YMCA orientation before beginning.
Positive Directions encourages CBL volunteers to combine an afterschool tutoring session with an afterschool recreation session in order to build strong relationships with the students. It is also possible to tutor twice per week or volunteer with the afterschool recreation twice per week.
Pre-Service Requirements: CORI, Orientation
Volunteers needed: 10-16
Nativity School of Worcester
67 Lincoln St., Worcester
Staff Contacts:
Cindy Schofield, Director of Operations (primary contact)
508-799-0100
Joveto De Carvalho, Nativity Fellow and Evening Study Coordinator
Organization Description:
Nativity School of Worcester is an accredited, independent, Jesuit middle school that provides a quality, all-scholarship education to underserved boys of all faiths. Drawing upon four pillars - strength, scholarship, character, and service - a Nativity education inspires self-discovery, responsibility, spiritual growth, and a lifelong dedication to learning. Nativity School of Worcester is modeled upon effective practices that provide students from low-income homes the opportunity for academic excellence. The Nativity model of education began with the creation of the Nativity Mission Center in New York City in 1971. The model consists of small class sizes, a mandatory summer program, an extended school day where students attend organized activities and an evening study, and a graduate support program. In addition to the rigorous academic program, students participate in a comprehensive, character-building sports and activities program in the afternoon, and an individualized tutoring program in the evening.
Nativity School of Worcester offers a comprehensive and unique learning experience that prepares students for the rigors of high school and college. The academic program emphasizes hard work, dedication, and achievement with the goal of inspiring each student to attain the following goals:
• He will achieve at his highest level, as measured by effort and assessment in his classes and improvement on his M.A.P. testing.
• He will be accepted into a selective high school or specialized high school program.
• He will graduate from high school in four years.
• He will graduate from a four-year college or specialized post-high school program.
CBL Opportunities:
- Volunteers are needed to serve, once per week, as tutors during Nativity's evening study program, which runs three nights a week, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 5:15 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. During this time, Nativity men are paired with tutors who assist them with academic subjects that pose personal challenges, explore advanced areas of study, or complete homework.
- Similarly, to Nativity’s evening study program, volunteers are needed to serve, once per week, as tutors through Nativity’s Office of Graduate Support. Three nights a week, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 3:45-4:45 p.m. high school Nativity graduates are paired with tutors who assist them with academic subjects that pose personal challenges, explore advanced areas of study, or complete homework.
- There are also opportunities to participate in the creation of weekly activity clubs and/or sports on Wednesdays from 3:35-5:00, based on the non-academic interests of our volunteers. Past clubs have included woodworking, guitar, cooking, and origami, amongst many others. In addition to these opportunities, CBL students may assist our teachers in proctoring after school intramural or interscholastic athletics.
Pre-service Requirements: CORI form, Volunteer application, Code of Conduct
Volunteers needed: 15
Let's Get Ready
89 South St. Boston
(staff work in Boston, but program administered at South High in Worcester in the fall semester, and North High in the spring semester)
Staff Contact:
Elena Vasquez
College Access Program Manager
Main Line: 617-366-2643
Direct: 617-345-0098
Fax: 617-507-6041
Organization Description:
Let's Get Ready provides low-income high school students with free SAT preparation, admissions counseling and other support services needed to gain admission to and graduate from college. Services are provided by volunteer college students who also serve as role models and mentors. LGR was founded in 1998 by Jeannie Lang Rosenthal, a Harvard undergraduate. Believing that the knowledge and experience she had gained while applying to college could be of substantial value to low-income high school students who lacked access to the critical support resources she had, Jeannie started the first Let’s Get Ready program in a church basement in Mount Vernon, NY. Since then Let’s Get Ready has served more than 19,000 low-income high school students with the mentoring power of 7,000 trained volunteer college Coaches. In partnerships with colleges, high schools and community organizations, programs stretch from Lewiston, Maine to Philadelphia. In 2013 Let’s Get Ready assisted nearly 3,500 high school students on the road to higher education and college success.
CBL Opportunities:
Let's Get Ready mobilizes and trains volunteer college student ""Coaches"" as tutors and mentors who provide not only instruction but also the encouragement and inspiration students need to succeed. Coaches are comprehensively trained to teach reading comprehension & writing or math (or both), as well as financial aid and college readiness. The program runs from 5:30-8:30 on Monday and Wednesday nights. Reading comp coaches teach one night and math coaches teach the other night, but students attend both nights each week. Coaches must commit to preparing for and teaching the full three-hour class each week. Let's Get Ready provides a workbook and lesson plan, which coaches can supplement with fun activities of their own.
Coaches are dynamic and motivated undergraduate students who are committed to equality and social justice. Coaches will work on site once or twice a week to guide a small group of high school students through the SAT and college application process.
Qualifications:
•Have SAT score of 600 or higher in the subject they want to teach
•Tutoring experience ideal, but not required
Responsibilities:
•Attend a 4-5 hour orientation session
•Volunteer one evening per week for approximately 6-8 weeks
•Serve as a mentor to high school students
•Prepare high school students for the Math or Critical Reading/Writing Sections of theupcoming SAT
• Help students better understand the college admissions process and assist on completion
of key components of their application
Pre-service Requirements: CORI form, Online Volunteer application at
Volunteers needed: 5-10