Western Front - 1998 May 12

              WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY VOLUME 204 ISSUE 12
TUESDAY
May 12,1998
BELLINGHAM, WASHINGTON
Kids receive one-on-one reading help
By Tiffany White
The Western Front
Western students and
AmeriCorps are taking a new
approach this year in the battle
against illiteracy in Bellingham
elementary schools. Partners in
Reading, a literacy project, con­nects
student and community vol­unteers
with elementary students
needing help with reading and
comprehension skills.
AmeriCorps at Western began
the Partners in Reading project in
January to help improve and
strengthen reading skills of ele­mentary
students. The program
consists of three components:
reading support for kindergarten-through-
6th-grade students, fami­ly
literacy programs and an after-school
tutoring program, said
Brooke White, Partners in
Reading co-coordinator.
White.coordinates the Partners
in Reading program with
AmeriCorps representative Carol
Estabillo-Woods. AmeriCorps is a
federally funded organization
that "sponsors national, state and
non-profit organizations through­out
the communities," White said.
"Different organizations ask for a
member to implement a program
to meet the need of a community."
AmeriCorps works with
Campus Compact, a national
coalition of college and university
presidents that encourages public
service at Western. Partners in
Reading is funded by a grant
through the Washington Service
Corps.
Estabillo-Woods and White offi­cially
started the Partners in
Reading program in January. This
is the first time the Partners in
Reading program has worked
within the Bellingham community.
"We really started from ground
zero — there was no structure."
Estabillo-Woods said.
"We had to really
establish the goals for
the program."
The program is
operates in 18 univer­sities
throughout the
state, White said.
"It pairs up the col­leges
with the commu­nities,"
White said.
Partners in Reading
was inspired by the
America Reads
Challenge proposed
by President Clinton in
August 1996.
The America Reads
Challenge goal is to
send college tutors
into local school sys­tems
to ensure that
every American child
reads well and inde­pendently
by the end
of third grade. The
program has the
potential to improve
children's reading
skills, build self-esteem
and prepare Partner in
children for success.
Partners in Reading has six
Western student tutors who par­ticipate
through the Federal Work
Study program.
The program also receives par­ticipants
from the Whatcom
Volunteer Center. The program
tutoring sites include Roosevelt
Elementary School and Shuksan
Middle School and an after-school
program that focuses on literacy
activities and family workshops
at the Ferndale Boys and Girls
Club.
Western student Sara Cooley
tutors a student in Mike Webb's
fourth grade class at Roosevelt
Elementary School twice a week.
She also presents family literacy
workshops at the school and works
Front/Erin Armstrong
Reading volunteer, Sophia Morales tutors 5th grader Tyler Washington to improve reading skills.
at the Ferndale Boys and Girls d u b .
"One of the purposes of the
program is not to just tutor kids
who need help in reading, but to
bring literacy in the family," she
said. "I think having reading in
the family really benefits the chil­dren."
Cooley and her student warm up
before tutoring sessions with rid­dles
and puzzles and then spend
the rest of the session reading a
book together.
After the reading session, Cooley
writes notes about .the student's
progress, and she and her student
write a single sentence summariz­ing
what happened in their book
and a prediction about what they
think will happen next in the story.
"I think that (Partners in
Reading) is probably making him
a better reader, but I think he likes
the attention," Cooley said. "It not
only makes him a better reader,
but hopefully feel better about
himself."
Webb has Partners in Reading
volunteers work with two of his
students to help improve reading
strategies with comprehension
and dictionary skills.
Webb has tutors work with
material that is familiar to his stu­dents,
and activities, such as
speed games, that increase fluen­cy.
"Often when fluency is quick­er,
your comprehension is in­creased,"
he said.
Webb's students look forward
to the tutor visits, he said.
"They are maintaining more
interest in their reading, picking
SSR (Silent Sustained Reading)
books and reading for enjoy­ment,"
Webb said. "They have
better skills doing that because of
the one-to-one help."
"Kids really teach themselves
to read when they find materials
of interest to them and have an
individual guide them," Webb
said.
Partners in Reading also pro­vides
help to students who do not
fit into the categories of other
school literacy programs.
Susan D'Amelio, a fourth grade
See Reading, page 3
Group raises money for student with cancer
By Jill Frewing
The Western Front
Three psychology students are starting a
club to raise money for Rebecca Johnston, a
47-year-old student with cancer.
The club, "Rebecca's Team," is awaiting
approval from Western's assistant attorney
general and is aimed at raising money for
Johnston to continue with her education,
club-member Karen Hartvig-Nielsen said.
Another club member, Becky Hill, said
the Associated Students has been very sup­portive,
but the three women are still wait­ing
to hear if the club will be approved.
She said the purpose of the club is to
offer financial and emotional support to
students with cancer. However, their main
goal right now is to meet Johnston's needs.
"The reason we are starting the club is to
raise money for Rebecca because she needs
it," Hill said. "In order to fund raise on
campus, we need a club."
Hartvig-Nielsen said
the club is important
because Johnston is an
excellent student and
deserves the chance to fin­ish
her education at
T:Z^J^£ Karen Hartvig.-Nielsen
port.
"Everything Rebecca
does takes so much more time for her to
achieve excellence," Hartvig-Nielsen said.
"And she does that."
Johnston lives in Stanwood and has to
commute to Western, Hartvig-Nielsen said
"We need to help
(Rebecca) as mucn
as we
possibly can"
Rebecca's Team club member
She is not well enough to work and has
enormous medical expenses. She is also
scheduled to graduate in spring, she said.
However, after school
ends this quarter, so does
Johnston's financial aid.
"She needs money for
rent, utilities, car, insur­ance
and food," Hartvig-
Nielsen said.
Other finances Johnston
needs covered include
medical equipment and
money to improve her
diet, Hartvig-Nielsen said.
She said education is one of the only
things keeping Johnston going, since she
has been recently diagnosed with metastat­ic
bone cancer.
Johnston is currently undergoing
chemotherapy and attends classes, even
though she requires a walker to get around
now.
"Education is giving her a future,"
Hartvig-Neilsen said.
Possible fund-raising ideas the three
women have for the club are "A dollar for
Rebecca," an advice booth, car washes and
bake sales.
Their primary campaign, "A dollar for
Rebecca," would involve placing cans
around campus, primarily in the cafeterias
and food places, where people could con­tribute
a dollar to Johnston's fund.
"If every student, staff and faculty mem­ber
put in one dollar, we could meet all
See Cancer, page 4
.1