Befitting St. John’s University’s Vincentian tradition of
service, The School of
Education’s 10-year partnership with the Jumpstart nationwide literacy
organization aims to close the achievement gap for today’s
low-income youth.
The nucleus of the program consists of the Jumpstart Corps
volunteers, guided by Charisse Willis ’89SVC, ’91GEd, ’05PD,
Associate Dean and Jumpstart “Campus Champion,” and Dean Jerrold
Ross, Ph.D., Vice President of the Staten Island campus. More than
500 St. John’s alumni and 77 undergraduates have served as mentors
to and active catalysts of change for underprivileged preschool
children.
After being interviewed by Jumpstart’s site managers, Corps members
commit to at least 300 hours per academic year, averaging 12 hours
a week in the elementary school classrooms “Their responsibilities
are significant and demand the utmost dedication,” said Miriam
Gadlin, who serves as one of two St. John’s site managers with
Julie Brunner. “Student volunteers balance their own academic
schedules with the demands of communicating with family members and
guardians, engaging children individually and in groups, reviewing
session plans and addressing unexpected hardships.”
All Jumpstart classrooms serve children who live below the poverty
level, many of them homeless. The socioeconomic challenges faced
daily by this community of three- to five-year-old children and
their families often lead to a lifetime of struggle and
desperation. Jumpstart strives to combat the statistics suggesting
that low-income children are 60 percent more likely to start
kindergarten unable to read.
Corps members are as diverse as the children they serve. Although
their skills and academic focuses differ — with varying majors
including Early Childhood Education, Communications, Criminal
Justice and Business — they are united by a desire to ignite in
Jumpstart clients a passion to learn and an expectation of success.
Personally identifying with their young charges, many volunteers
dedicate more time than expected. For example, Bridget Grayson
’13CPS spent more than 600 hours at her Jamaica, Queens-based
school while juggling a full academic schedule as a
Mass Communications major.
Grayson did not view those additional hours as a sacrifice. “So
many of these children lack a stable home life,” she said. “I could
never give up on them. The weekly presence of Jumpstart Corps
members is something they can rely on.”
Rashida Wisdom ’14Ed, a three-year Corps member, was also
profoundly influenced by her Jumpstart experience. “Seeing the
positive change in the children, watching them smile, gave me a
wider perspective on the ways education impacts lives,” she said.
“Jumpstart opened my mind to all the benefits of creative teaching
techniques.” After eight months, Rashida embraced her passion for
Childhood Education and changed her major from Legal
Studies.
Language barriers in low-income communities also present
challenges. Bilingual Corps members are placed in targeted schools
to help children overcome insecurity and develop a genuine love for
learning. Cantonese- and Mandarin-speaking St. John’s Corps members
are assisting a Flushing, NY, preschool where those languages
predominate. Similarly, a Jamaica, Queens, classroom is benefiting
from another Corps member’s fluency in Creole.
The teacher-to-student ratio in low-income classrooms is typically
one-to-12, vastly different from the one-to-three ratio of more
affluent communities. In neighborhoods where so many students — and
teachers — face challenges, Corps members value the opportunity to
help equalize this disparity.