Volunteers Needed to Serve as Literacy Tutors in Hardeman County
For nearly five years, Hardeman Healthy Outreach has collaborated with steering committee members from each of the County’s municipalities to increase access to nutritious meals and opportunities for physical activity. Another goal of the program was to inspire members to find a project that not only gave them passion, but also one that could make a difference in their community.
“One of the goals of Hardeman Healthy Outreach (H20) in 2023 was for members to develop a ‘passion project’ in line with improving our community,” said Hickory Valley resident Betsy Jones. “My project is to provide tutoring for students in our second grades. Unfortunately, recent TCAP scores show only 40 percent proficiency scores on testing given in the third grade. Our goal is to work with second grade children, so they will have better outcomes when tested in the third grade.”
Eager to get her “passion project” started, Ms. Jones began speaking with several people in the Hardeman County Schools. Her idea was met with interest by Dr. Linda Buggs, principal of Grand Junction Elementary School.
“Dr. Linda Buggs agreed to having volunteers come into her school for the purpose of helping her students improve their reading skills,” said Ms. Jones.
Ms. Jones learned about ARISE2Read, a non-profit organization based in the Memphis area that focuses on improving student literacy skills. The mission of ARISE2Read is the following:
“Through one-to-one connections with students, we improve literacy skills, provide faith-based support, and work together to make our community a better place.”
Realizing the mission of ARISE2Read is similar to her goal, Ms. Jones decided to put her efforts into bringing the organization’s literacy program to Hardeman County.
“ARISE2Read has a program developed exactly for this purpose. It will help train volunteers and provide materials to use. All it takes is one hour a week to help change a child’s life,” said Ms. Jones.
Each volunteer/tutor will work with two students for half an hour twice a week. The tutor and student work together on reading skills, giving the student the individual time and attention they need with the hope of improving those skills, and ultimately TCAP test scores. You do not need any teaching or tutoring experience to volunteer. Training will be provided. If you are interested in volunteering as a literacy tutor, contact Betsy Jones at (731) 609-6850 or bjbarbj5@gmail.com for more information.
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