MAILED: Aug. 1, 2001
EAU CLAIRE — The Dayton’s
store in Eau Claire may now be known as Marshall Field’s, but the company that
owns it has not changed its policy of community giving and involvement.
For the past six years the University of Wisconsin-Eau
Claire Human Development Center has received grant money from the Dayton’s
Community Giving Program for the funding of a tutor/mentoring program designed
to serve at-risk and disadvantaged students in the Eau Claire Public Schools.
Marshall Field’s renewed the $3,000 grant again this year.
These
funds, matched by funds from the UW-Eau Claire HDC, will be used to continue
tutoring and mentorship programs established at Lincoln and Lakeshore elementary
schools throughout the upcoming academic year.
This
year eighteen university students will serve as tutors and mentors to
approximately 60 students in first through third grades at each of the two
schools. According to William Frankenberger, Human Development Center director
and grant coordinator, the tutors are all students who are involved with the HDC
as psychology, education, special education, communication disorders and nursing
or social work majors.
Throughout
the school year, the tutors go to the elementary schools twice a week and work
with the children for an hour after school. The sessions, which begin with a
snack and time to just visit, provide the elementary school students with
training in academic and social skills. The students also take part in
activities that are planned by the tutors and the elementary school teachers.
Frankenberger
said that Lakeshore and Lincoln schools were chosen as sites for the program not
only because they are close to the University, but also because they serve large
populations of low-income students and both have fairly high minority student
populations as well.
Frankenberger
and Lakeshore principal Mary Seitz, hoping to create a collaboration between the
university and the public schools that would be mutually beneficial, developed
the program in 1995.
They
appear to have achieved their goal. Frankenberger said that teachers have
reported gains in academic achievement for students involved in the program,
along with increased confidence, responsibility and motivation.
In
a letter of support, Seitz said of the program at Lakeshore, “The tutoring
program has become firmly embedded in our structure. It is a program which is
highly regarded by our staff, the children and the parents of our students.”
And
Frankenberger believes that the tutor/mentors have also gained valuable
experiences working with the children. “Some have even been inspired to change
career paths as a result.”
-30-
NW
[Administrative Offices]
[News Bureau]
Janice B. Wisner
UW-Eau Claire News Bureau
Schofield 201
(715) 836-4741
newsbur@uwec.edu
Updated: Aug. 1, 2001
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