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I lead a circular life. I usually drive off at 7:00 in the morning into the cold and dark with a cup of coffee in my hand. I sometimes don’t pull out of Horseshoe Bend until late, when it is cold and dark, and I have a cup of coffee in my hand. Everything that happens in between can be exciting, frustrating, rewarding, aggravating and unforgettable.
It takes over a half hour each morning for me to reach my site in the small town of Horseshoe Bend, Idaho. I like the drive. I use the time to prepare myself for day, to set my goals and make plans. I also prepare for what might go wrong. It isn’t easy working with at-risk high school students. They are usually frustrated and lacking motivation. They need help in almost every area. Their extensive needs is what makes my position at the school so interesting. As Horseshoe Bend’s first AmeriCorps member I was allowed to develop the position around my strengths and the most immediate needs. I haven’t been able to meet every goal, but AmeriCorps’ presence has helped the school in many ways.
Horseshoe Bend applied for its AmeriCorps member through the Idaho TRIO AmeriCorps (ITAC) program. ITAC is an education based program that focuses on needs for people of all ages. Members serve throughout the state of Idaho, working as mentors and tutors. The sites range from schools to colleges to prisons. According to ITAC’s mission statement, "Current educational resources can’t meet the need of all Idaho’s students, especially those with special needs. Helping students stay in school, get better grades, learn about career opportunities, and become more productive citizens is the goal of the Idaho TRIO AmeriCorps program."
ITAC’s claims that Idaho’s educational needs aren’t being met are supported in academic journals. Education Week gave Idaho a C- for equity in distributing resources and a D+ for teaching. The literacy rates back up these low grades. "Thirty one percent of Idaho residents over the age 16 function at a low literacy level. They have trouble reading maps, job and tax forms" [Moscow-Pullman Daily News 9/19/97]. The problem only seems to be getting worse, with the fact that two-thirds of Idaho’s fourth-graders are unable to understand books at their grade level. The risk is even greater for at-risk or disadvantaged students, "At risk kids who receive special education, migrant or limited English-services did far worse, with 90 to 100 percent failing the tests" [Lewiston Morning Tribune 1/30/98].
Horseshoe Bend is a perfect case study for these startling numbers. In the past two years the school district has seen its number of special education classified students double, without an increase in the special education staff. In addition, a high number of high school students are dropping out or failing to graduate on time.
One of the major concerns in Horseshoe Bend is graduating students who are prepared to work or enter college. Too many students don’t leave town and don’t get a job after graduation. They are forced to live at home because they don’t have the skills that are attractive to schools and potential employers.
Yet another concern in Horseshoe Bend is the lack of consistent community service. Many of the students equate community service with criminal punishment, not realizing all the advantages that service projects provide. Besides the obvious benefit to the community, service projects help students develop marketable skills, gain confidence, make business connections and establish a sense of self worth and pride. These are all skills that will benefit students when they leave the scholastic world.
After securing an AmeriCorps member for the 1997-1998 school year, the school counselor and superintendent set out to create a position that would address these many needs. They titled this new position the school-to-work facilitator. They wanted their new member to do everything from mentor to tutor to supervise the creation of a service club. By the end of the summer of 1997 they had outlined ten specific duties for their new AmeriCorps member: 1) tutor at-risk students 2) mentor students 3) provide teacher assistance 4) monitor student’s progress towards the employability certificate 5) assist with Individualized Occupational Training 6) provide career advising to graduating seniors 7) provide assistance with senior projects 8) recruit community volunteers 9) guide students through CIS computer searches and 10) supervise the creation of a service club.
The most successful program is the tutoring of at-risk students. Horseshoe Bend, being a low income area, considers all of its students at-risk, yet a few are at a severe disadvantage. The majority of these severely disadvantaged students fall under the category of learning disabled. I have been able to give extra attention to many of the high school students in this category, students that were previously ignored due to the high need in the elementary school. Horseshoe Bend operates on block scheduling, with A and B days, four class periods a day. I spend the first two class periods of every A day in the resource room, providing tutoring in reading, math and science to five high school students.
There is one student, Bobby , who is mildly retarded and spends both class periods in the resource room. During the first period I teach him basic math skills and he uses the second period to do work for other classes. He has shown remarkable progress as a result of all the individual attention AmeriCorps has been able to give him. At the beginning of the year he scored at a fifth grade level on a basic math test. He was given the same test during the first week in April, and was operating at close to a sixth grade level in almost every area. In addition, his grades and work ethic have increased in his other classes. The other four students who work in the resource room on A days have also improved their grades.
Another success has been the AmeriCorps after school tutoring on Tuesday and Thursday. This is a new program. It was started with hopes of providing an arena for students who need extra time or help with their studies. In the beginning it was difficult getting students to show up, but now there is a consistent group of four or five that attend every week. Teachers often attend these sessions as well, providing students the individual attention they aren’t able to give them in class. All of the students that attend have increased their grades and lowered the number of missing assignments.
One additional tutoring success has been an independent study with a senior who needs to raise his core average in order to graduate this year. He is retaking English 11 and World History. I work with him during first period on B days, supervising his progress in his make-up courses. After the last grading period he had raised his core average to a level high enough for him to graduate this June.
AmeriCorps’ unique position at the school has allowed me to be a successful mentor, especially with Bobby. He lives in a single parent household and lacks any positive male role models. Our relationship has helped him gain confidence and social skills. This winter he played on the Junior Varsity Basketball team for the first time, and he is currently involved with a number of school clubs. I have also been able to counsel him in social skills, something he is currently lacking. Though he is still an outcast with in the school, he has improved his hygiene and no longer gets into fights with other students.
My experience as a mentor hasn’t been limited to the learning disabled students. In Horseshoe Bend athletics are very popular, and I have developed a relationship with many students through afternoon basketball games. I have also attended a number of school events, such as athletic contests and choir concerts. This has helped remove the stigma of being an outsider, and the students are now comfortable coming to me with problems and concerns.
Many of the teachers, in both the high school and elementary, have benefitted from AmeriCorps’ presence. I regularly help out with English classes, giving individual attention to students with special needs. This allows the teacher to concentrate on the other students in the class room, who deserve individual attention as well. In the elementary school I have individually tested every third and fourth grader in basic math skills. These tests serve two purposes. They identify learning disabled students and they provide the teachers with a better understanding of their students’ strengths and weaknesses.
Horseshoe Bend has an award they give out each year called the Employability Certificate. There are a number of requirements students must meet, based on good scholarship, regular attendance, a low number of tardies, a high work ethic and the development of a career portfolio. Students who receive this award are given a small card which alerts potential employers to the many skills this student possess. In the past the students’ progress toward achieving this certificate was not monitored, and as a result only two students were awarded an Employability Certificate last year. As an AmeriCorps member I have been able to follow qualified students all year, and encourage them to work towards this goal. With nine weeks left of school there are over twenty students who are still eligible.
A new class at Horseshoe Bend this year is called Individualized Occupational Training (IOT). This is an optional course for seniors, and it prepares them for the challenges they will face after graduation. AmeriCorps assists with all aspects of this course. Some of my duties in the class room include conducting mock interviews, assistance with resume development and leading students on occupational searches. Every student in the class will finish with a completed resume, a career portfolio and three letters of reference.
Career advising to all students is another aspect of the AmeriCorps position. At the beginning of the year I individually counseled every student in the high school as to their future plans. The high school just completed a giant project in which every student filled out a job application in their English classes. I reviewed these applications and made suggestions to students on ways to improve their marketability. In addition, I meet with the senior class every other afternoon. They use this time to fill out college and scholarship applications, apply for jobs and research possible majors and occupations. At the end of the school year every student will be required to give a presentation to a three person panel detailing their post-graduation plans.
Every student must also complete a successful senior project before they are given their diploma. The goal of these projects is to leave a lasting legacy in the town or school, one that will benefit the students who follow. This years students recently started their projects, and AmeriCorps is responsible for guiding them through the process. A few of the proposed projects include the creation of a day care, the establishment of a historical museum and a student employment handbook. I am helping with each of these projects, providing support and guidelines, as well as ideas to further the scope of the projects.
Horseshoe Bend suffers from a tense relationship between the town and the school. This strained relationship has made it difficult for AmeriCorps to recruit community volunteers, though there have been some successful projects. Every parent is encouraged to join their child at the after school tutoring sessions, and on a few occasions mothers and children have sat side by side, working on school work. In addition, a community meeting was recently organized by AmeriCorps to discuss the needs of the community. The meeting went very well, and the city is currently in the process of trying to increase its AmeriCorps presence in the years to come.
CIS is an occupational computer database, available to every student in the school district. During the Fall I attended a CIS workshop, and since then I have been assisting students with job and college searches. There is a CIS occupational printout in the guidance file of every high school student.
The final goal of the AmeriCorps program is organizing community service. As the AmeriCorps member I am the faculty advisor to the service club, which numbers close to half the students. Many projects are being discussed for National Week of Service. In addition, at the beginning of the year very student in the high school participated in four projects, which they organized and coordinated. All of the students learned a great deal about what goes into planning a project, and they helped increase their chances of winning a scholarship. I have tried to alert every student of the importance of community service in applying for scholarships.
AmeriCorps isn’t responsible for all of these improvements at the school, but it has been an important part of the equation. The presence of an additional staff member has helped fill the gaps throughout the school district. The biggest need is providing individual attention to at-risk youth, and the benefit of AmeriCorps in this area simply can’t be measured.
I need that half hour drive home every night, to unwind from the day. I use the time organize my thoughts, reflect on the day’s activities and simply think about this incredible experience I am having.
My thoughts on a night last Fall best reflect how I feel about my job and AmeriCorps’ contribution to the school. It had been a long day and I didn’t pull out of the Horseshoe Bend parking lot until 8:30 PM. It was as mentally exhausting a day as I can remember. I spent the meat of my day mentoring and tutoring and career advising and discussing silly procedures with the administrators. After school I had one of my tutoring sessions, and this was about the time I really started to enjoy them. The bad seeds of the school attended, but they have always worked hard and wanted to be there. At the same time they, we, always have fun. I remember thinking that a few weeks ago they wouldn’t give me the time of the day, but on that day they started sharing their life stories. I had brought them some Halloween treats, which I brought out after the Librarian left (she doesn’t like food in there). All of them stayed past 5:30, which was a Christmas miracle, and they worked pretty much the whole two hours, asking Mr. Wright for help when needed. After they left the GED students arrived. That was always a good experience. All of those students, both young and old, wanted to be there, and they worked much harder than any of the high school students ever seemed to. All of them had messed up plenty with their lives, but they were there trying to make amends before it was too late. It was a wonderful night.
As I drove those lonely mountain roads home that night, with only the snow and cold to keep me company, I felt really good about my job. The most frustrating aspect of what I do, and with AmeriCorps in general, is that it is hard to see quantitative results. I never know if I am making a difference. That night, however, I felt for the first time that I was providing a service that wouldn’t be there without AmeriCorps. I’m not claiming to change their lives, but it is nice to know I am having some effect. I was driving home that night, with some generic song playing in the background, I felt at peace about my job and AmeriCorps for the first time. I am happy to report I still feel that way today.
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