To the editor:
Each year as fall approaches and school gets in the swing again, I contact local media outlets about the Oasis Tutoring program. This program for over 22 years has worked with Greenwood elementary students in grades kindergarten through third grade on mentoring, listening, sharing their lives and assisting them in developing academic skills to ensure success in school.
The program recruits adults over 50 who are willing to volunteer an hour a week with a student who has needs in the academic or sometimes social areas by being their friend and supporter and augmenting their classroom activities.
In this day and age, teachers are often overwhelmed with the needs children bring to school not only academically but emotionally as well and do not always have the time to give them the one-on-one they need.
Our tutors offer their students the warmth, guidance and experience from their lives to help them connect and increase their skills in reading, writing and speaking while giving them an older adult who they know cares about them and what they accomplish.
If working with an elementary child and helping them be successful interests, you call 317-396-3751 for more information. The 12-hour training is scheduled for Sept. 14 to 16 at Westwood Elementary School.
As I tell my current tutors who range in age from those who are in their 50s to their 80s and 90s — when you work with a child you know you have an impact on the future, and you also develop a wonderful relationship with a child who will never forget you and what you brought to their lives.
Janie Adcock
Oasis tutor coordinator,
Greenwood Community Schools
