YMCA Student Tutoring Program receives Outstanding Community Outreach Award
The YMCA Student Tutoring Program has received the Outstanding Community Outreach Award for service provided by Virginia Tech students to Blacksburg elementary, middle and high schools.
The Outstanding Community Outreach Award is one of 10 University Student Leadership Awards given by Virginia Tech's Department of Student Activities in the Division of Student Affairs to recognize outstanding members, extraordinary achievements by an organization, advisers, volunteerism, and service-learning experiences.
"The tutoring program is one of the longest running and well-esteemed programs that the YMCA does," said Shannon Turner, YMCA director.
There are 75 student volunteers involved with the program that is led by student program directors, Tamara Williams, of Woodbridge, Va., a senior communications major in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences at Virginia Tech, and April Dankos, of Mechanicsville, Va., a senior psychology major in the College of Science at Virginia Tech.
The elementary school tutoring program provides service to four Blacksburg area elementary schools. The purpose of the program is to provide additional aid to teachers in the classrooms and to provide children in the area with additional attention for learning and personal development. Volunteers spend one to two hours per week as a teacher's aide or as a personal tutor for students who need extra attention.
The middle and high school tutoring program matches Virginia Tech students with students from Blacksburg Middle and Blacksburg High School. Tutoring for the middle and high school students focuses on specific subjects and is done on an individual basis.
Brittany Klemmer, assistant director of YMCA Student Programs, nominated the tutoring program for the outstanding community outreach award because of its growth and service. "They have grown considerably in the number of volunteers and classes that they reach and they recently started going into Blacksburg Middle School. Every year they have to turn away volunteers."
Williams feels the most rewarding thing about being part of the program is getting recognition from the community. "Getting feedback from the teachers and guidance counselors that we work closely with as well as the students who have told us how much they appreciate us is great," Williams said. "We can see that what our volunteers do is making a difference."
Founded in 1872 as a land-grant college, Virginia Tech has grown to become the largest university in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Today, Virginia Tech's eight colleges are dedicated to putting knowledge to work through teaching, research, and outreach activities and to fulfilling its vision to be among the top 30 research universities in the nation. At its 2,600-acre main campus located in Blacksburg and other campus centers in Northern Virginia, Southwest Virginia, Hampton Roads, Richmond, and Roanoke, Virginia Tech enrolls more than 28,000 full- and part-time undergraduate and graduate students from all 50 states and more than 100 countries in 170 academic degree programs.
