The Tucker Foundation recently unveiled a new multicultural project, the aim of which is to expose area public school children to cultural education.
The whole idea is "experimental education," said Volunteer Coordinator for the Tucker Foundation Erin Murphy.
Murphy said Dartmouth Community Services approached three schools during the fall and persuaded them to co-sponsor the project and its grant proposal.
Students can volunteer in three local elementary schools -- Ray, Thetford and Lyme -- and suggest their own ideas about incorporating cultural education in the school curriculum, Murphy said.
The schools "are so enthusiastic about it and eager to get the Dartmouth students in their schools," Murphy said.
"Students can come in and bring poetry, music or just talk about their personal experiences," Unai Montes-Irueste '98 said.
He said the program works by trying to negotiate a compromise with the teacher's curriculum to fit in projects of their own.
"Right now we are throwing ideas around from which we will have a basis for a prototype upon which to build," he said.
"Children are very curious and they want to study and examine things," he said. "We have to remember that there is a world out there fed by children."
Montes-Irueste recounted his experiences as an English as a Second Language tutor for a Mexican child in a local elementary school.
He said his tutoring the child in Spanish incited the curiosity of the rest of the English-speaking class.
"They would ask what I was saying when I spoke with my student in Spanish," he said. "They didn't judge me at all. They just wanted to find any way to relate."
When Murphy described "experimental education," she referred to the kinds of experiences Montes-Irueste outlined.
"It is so much easier to appreciate someone else's culture when you are there presenting in person," Murphy said. "They're not learning from a stale textbook."
Murphy said the idea for the project came up when the Tucker Foundation received an application for a grant from New Hampshire College and University Council Public Service Compact.
She said the Tucker Foundation considered the needs of the community and received requests from volunteer students and teachers for educational programs that are more specific -- for example, having a Native American come to the schools to work on a Native American crafts unit.
"We realized there was a place where Dartmouth students would fit in well," Murphy said.
"I think a lot of children are excited to have Dartmouth students enter their life," she added.
Murphy said there could be a wide range of projects which students have the potential to create.
Montes-Irueste said he is seeking volunteer students from any background to participate in the program. He said he hopes to have the program setup by the end of the term.
