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The
Aktion Club, an organization sponsored by Kiwanis of
Greenville, has supported Empowering Darke County
Youth with a recent
donation. Aktion Club Treasurer David Olinger and club member Matt
Strickland
spent $150, approved by the club, to purchase snacks for
EDCY tutoring.
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Aktion
Club helps serve a record Empowering student turnout
GREENVILLE – Empowering Darke County Youth had a record 100 student
requests for its first week of After School tutoring. This was a major
increase over the 79 received at the beginning of 2017.
Helping Empowering and Edison State tutors get the program off to a
good start were Aktion Club members Mandy Grooms and Jesse Younker, who
distributed snacks and drinks to the forty Greenville K-8 students
showing up the first day. Treasurer David Olinger and member Matt
Strickland had gone on a shopping spree and purchased enough snacks and
drinks to last several weeks. Aktion Club is a service program
sponsored by Kiwanis of Greenville.
Empowering thanks club members for their generous donation. They have
made the snack issue – at least in the beginning – a non-issue. It was
also appreciated that they helped distribute the snacks and got to meet
the kids they were helping.
According to Bob Robinson, Program Coordinator, all students so far
have been confirmed to participate in the program. Resources in 2017
only allowed 59 student confirmations, leaving many students waiting
for help. “Our goal this fall was no waiting list,” he said. “We spent
most of August making sure we had the resources and procedures in place
to make that goal a reality.
“Assistant Program Coordinator Kay Sloat did most of the heavy
lifting,” Robinson continued. “We had discussed how we were going to
make sure support materials, and students, were grouped by grade or
skill level. She made it happen.”
Attendance during Week 1 ranged from 40 to 49 students, compared to 28
to 34 in 2017. Student needs included reading, comprehension, writing,
math and homework. Despite the increase in the number of students,
student to tutor ratio was still about 3-to-1.
Although there were student increases at all grade levels, the biggest
were for kindergarten and middle school, 5 to 8. “It was a little
chaotic the first couple of days,” Robinson noted. “Once we adapted to
the different grade level increases, the rest of the week went smoothly
and, I thought, successfully.”
Robinson added there will likely be many more students requesting help
over the next few weeks. “We need volunteers,” he said. “We have
procedures set up to give volunteers the tools to work with preferred
age groups and subject matter. It’s a good system and it is adaptable
to changing needs. We just need adults to help us.” He added that for
the safety and comfort of all, volunteers will be subject to background
checks.
The Empowering Mission: Empowering Darke County Youth is a United Way
Partner Agency providing After School and Summer Tutoring programs to
assist students in the areas of language arts and math with the goal of
Strong Students for a Strong Community.
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Mandy
Grooms and Jesse Younker, both Aktion Club members,
enjoyed meeting the kids and
distributing the snacks on the kickoff
evening of 2018 tutoring.
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