Are you looking for fun? Searching for excitement? Longing
for satisfaction in life? Seeking to gain a fresh perspective
on life? Longing for a great group of new friends? Establishing
a break in the boring old routine? If you answered yes
to any of the above, look no further – we have an
opportunity for you! Volunteer for one of our many local
schools.
Volunteers in schools have long been important low-cost resources
that have helped students achieve success. A good school
volunteer program is much like the Husker’s walk-on
program. It often goes unmentioned, but it can be a tremendous
source of talent and support in areas where a school is under-manned
and struggling.
For example, when there is one teacher to a class of 25 students,
it is very difficult for that teacher to listen to each student
read, to get to each one to practice math facts, to help
them with each of their deficit areas, or to work with each
on enrichment projects. However, a good volunteer or two
can help that same teacher provide more individual student
help in all these areas. Such volunteer support can be critical
to a child’s success.
Unfortunately, the volunteer pool has shrunk over the last
few years as more and more families have both parents working.
This is especially true in Nebraska as it has the largest
state percentage of families in which both parents work.
Columbus’ percentage is also very high. Nebraska also
leads the nation in the percentage of single parents that
work. The result is the number of parent volunteers has become
small though the need for them has become greater than ever.
What can volunteers do in the school? Well besides those
activities mentioned above, they can help the school in the
media centers, they can help on the playgrounds, they can
help at school crossings, they can provide expertise in areas
of special interests or experience as speakers or resources,
and they can help teachers with clerical duties.
Who qualifies to be a volunteer? Virtually anyone who does
not have a criminal background and who does enjoy working
with children qualifies. These include senior citizens, young
adults, and everyone in between. One more key characteristic
of a good volunteer is a person who is dependable and can
be counted on when they agree to serve.
Can businesses support school volunteerism? This is an area
that is much underutilized in Columbus. Businesses could
be helping in a couple of ways. One would be allowing their
employees to have time during the day to volunteer in the
schools. This could be done by allowing one hour per week
for volunteer activities. A second way is by allowing employees
to bank lunch times during the week. This time could then
be used on another day to take a longer lunch break for volunteer
work. Another way businesses can support school volunteers
is by adopting a school like RVW did for West Park.
RVW employees provide volunteer help at West Park during
the week in areas that West Park has identified as needing
extra support. RVW’s help to West Park students has
made a big difference in student success. This model could
work at any of our city’s schools.
What about you? Do you have the time and the interest to
help our school children? If you do, please contact the principal
of any of our schools or call Michelle Cruise at 563-7000.
Our children need the support of our community. One great
way to do this is to increase the number of community volunteers
in our schools.
You may find that you get even more out of the experience
than the children do!
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