By:Liz VandenHeede
Date: November 2, 2011
Every week, Monday through Friday from 3:45 to 5:30, something special is happening at the Oakwood Neighborhood Center. Not many know about it, but for the people involved it’s had a huge influence. Every day after school, Miss Cynthia and Miss Lindsey tutor a small group of neighborhood kids ages five through twelve. These students come back each day all school year, and some are even on their third year in attendance.
Miss Cynthia, who has worked in Special Education at Kalamazoo Central High School for almost 20 years, is very dedicated to the “family” here at Oakwood. She’s in her third year tutoring here and has helped these students grow educationally, socially and behaviorally. She describes how amazing it is for her to see the students’ skills improve not only from the beginning to end of the school year, but also as they come back year after year.
Miss Cynthia describes how the student next to her could barely read when he started here at the beginning of the last school year. It was something very frustrating to him at first, but they worked at it every day and little by little he improved. By the end of the school year, he won the school wide award for most improved reading!
“I’m all for it, I love it,” said Linda Wielinga of the after school tutoring program. Her oldest child, now in high school, attended the program and her youngest is now enrolled. She was first unsure of the program, “At first I felt guilty, because I send her to school at 8:30 and pick her up here at 5:30, which is a very long time for her to be away.” However, she soon realized how great the program really was after seeing the one-on-one help her son received. With the new styles of learning, Linda couldn’t always help them on all of their homework. With the tutoring program, Miss Cynthia and Miss Lindsey are always able to help. By the time Linda picks her student up, her homework is done and they never have to argue about it getting done.
“I think this program is really special because of the amount of care and attention to each kid,” said Miss Lindsey, a senior at Kalamazoo College, “we give the one-on-one time that other schools and programs can’t because of their size.” The great things this program is doing are evident through speaking to any of the students, parents or tutors. The after school tutoring runs through December 16th and there are still a few openings left! For more information on how to sign up please contact the Department of Parks and Recreation at 337-8191.
