Every other Saturday, IB seniors and juniors head over to Holmes Elementary in Liberty City to help young children with their reading skills and comprehension.
This school year is the first full year that the Teach For America program has been offered to the IB students. The program has been labeled “Baby Bulls Academy.” Every morning starts off with a provided breakfast for the Holmes Elementary students and then begin reading with their buddies. After the sessions, there are usually fun activities for the children and they are also allowed to take their books home. The purpose of the program is to read books with some of the third and fourth graders to help improve their reading comprehension and to improve their test scores in the future.
“Holmes Elementary is classified as the 11th worst school in the state in terms of passing rates for third and fourth graders. Whenever I hear that I think it’s crazy. All the kids there are so sweet and willing to cooperate with you. My buddy is really fun and I love knowing that just reading with her will help her pass her FCATs next year,” said junior Nicole Mueller.
The IB upperclassmen have come to love volunteering their Saturday mornings. Many students have commented how attached they become to their “buddies.” The students at Holmes Elementary as well as the IB students really benefit from the study sessions.
“What I like about Teach For America is that it is a place to teach another person but at the same time we learn. Also, we help these kids find their place and I believe they help us as well. I feel like even if I am not very constant with one single kid, and can’t work with him every single time…they are still so grateful that we show up and that it is a new experience every time. It’s wonderful and I have always bonded with all of them,” said senior and Head of Communications for the Teach for America program Candela Coudray.
Not only is this a student program but many faculty members are involved. Linde Barrett along with Betsie Steel are the coordinators of the ongoing event. Leslie Miller Saiontz, is also a key member involved in the program considering she is the Chair for Teach for America Miami-Dade.
“Well, it’s not so much for the recognition of the Teach for America program as much as it is to help the students at Holmes Elementary. Our relationship with Holmes has been transformational to all students involved. We’re hoping that this spark is launched out through the community. This way other high schools will be able to join together and pick an elementary school that they can adopt and help them,” said Linde Barrett.
The Teach for America program has also become further involved in the school. The Uniteen Talent Show was dedicated to fundraising for more books. These books will then be donated to Baby Bulls Academy.
For the holidays, the students took some another part out of their weekend and helped pack small Christmas baggies for the students at Holmes Elementary. The students wanted to give their buddies something for the holidays so they packed small gift bags with pencils, erasers, and candy.
The Teach for America program has been very successful, the efforts of the IB students were even documented on Channel 7 News.
