Hofstra Buddies

For the past three weeks, Honors College students have been traveling to Walnut Street Elementary School where they work with kids who need additional one-on-one reading help during the school day.

Dr. Brian Clocksin heads up the Hofstra Buddies program. “Originally, Hofstra athletic teams (basketball and football) would send representatives to the school one day during the semester to read in the classrooms,” he says. Now about 20 students are participating. “It is a great opportunity for college students to develop mentoring skills and provide a needed service to their community.”

Stephanie Gilbert is assigned to a kindergarten class at Walnut Street and helps them learn letters. “Last week we made a book of all ‘A’ words and colored them,” she says. “I love working with these children because it allows me to actually see the learning process take place. It is so inspiring when they ask for my help and I can almost see the light bulb go off in their minds when they understand.”

I’m having a lot of fun so far with the program myself. I experienced some sort of culture shock when I walked in on the first day and sat in the back of a second grade class. I forgot how decorated these classrooms can get. There was this one girl who was eager to raise her hand when her teacher asked questions. When she got the answer right, she looked back at me and smiled, making sure that I noticed how smart she was. It was very cute.

Last Friday, I was assigned to work with this second grader named Andres. He’s in a bilingual class where the students learn both Spanish and English because they’re growing up in Spanish-speaking homes. The teachers (there are two – one teaches English and the other teaches Spanish) told me that Andres is having trouble “decoding,” which I think is a fancy term for reading, and they asked me to work with him using words that start with the letter “A.” One of the flashcards had the word “all” on it and, after Andres sounded it out, I put it in a sentence for him. “All of the kids in this class are very smart,” I said. “Except me,” said Andres. I asked why he would say that. “Because I can’t read,” he said.

That’s what Hofstra Buddies is trying to help with.

If your schedule doesn’t allow for you to participate during the day (between 11:00 and 1:00) but you still want to get involved, Dr. Clocksin also runs after-school programs twice a week from 3:05 – 4:20. On Tuesdays, it’s called “Moving and Shaking with Hofstra-MASH” and it’s “Club Hofstra: Academic & Athletic Mentoring Programs” on Thursdays. “Both programs offer students structured physical activity programs while developing social and academic skills,” Dr. Clocksin says.

If you’re interested in getting involved, send Dr. Clocksin an e-mail at Brian.D.Clocksin@hofstra.edu.

Next week, I’ll talk about another cool way to volunteer with HUHC.