Here at Dartmouth, many people are involved in volunteer organizations. However, not everyone in the student body is aware that the Tucker Foundation keeps growing and growing: Students who are eager to use their academic skills to help others learn gravitate to the Opportunities in Education program; the Prison Project allows students to teach inmates at community prisons; cute little kids look up to those Dartmouth students that read to them in Book Buddies; students from different cultural backgrounds share their experiences with elementary school children; special friends volunteers take care of disabled children; helping out at the local high schools and elementary schools is a rewarding and fun experience.
Everyone loves to work with little kids! The charm of children sometimes hides the other students in need -- adults throughout the community. In this area of Vermont and New Hampshire, many adults struggle to re-shape their lives and work towards higher education. These people need help more than anyone else. A small, but growing group has devoted themselves to their needs: Adult Basic Education is a Tucker Volunteer organization developed especially for the adults in the local communities. In conjunction with Vermont Adult Learning, students that volunteer are matched up with adults to teach.
Every Wednesday evening, a handful of Dartmouth students cross the bridge to go to the Hixon House in Vermont. Several adults greet them there, eager to get some help . This is a walk-in teaching session for anyone who needs assistance with GED preparation, reading, writing, or math. Some people are lured in from the homeless shelter upstairs. The adults really love the attention and the confidence they feel when they learn. One Dartmouth student was working with a man on parole that lives in the shelter -- one of many who are desperate for the attention that they receive from these "teachers." Every new concept they learn is cherished.
The Dartmouth students at the Hixon House are not the only ones touching lives. Other students have "adopted" their own adult friend who wants to enhance his or her education. One student has been working with a woman for well over a year now, and the results have truly changed her life: A woman who was once so shy due to her mental disabilities that she would hardly speak to others is now living on her own. She even walks from her apartment to meet her tutor at the library. Vermont Adult Learning coordinator Susan Pappas is ecstatic about her improvement. She has encouraged many other Dartmouth students to touch lives by teaching with this example of how much a person can truly make a difference.
New arrivals to the country have found English language help from individual Dartmouth students. A Polish woman named Christina at first could only say hello. Now she holds conversations with her tutor in English with a smile on her face. She is impatient with her learning, but the process takes time. Maria from Ecuador is beginning her study of English as well. Citizens of New Hampshire who are unfamiliar with English have many difficulties, but the Dartmouth students are here to help them.
Due to a change in welfare policy, a GED is now in higher demand, and people need better jobs. Math majors match up well with those who are about to pass the GED and just need a little algebra aid. As a result, many adults in the surrounding communities have begun to search for tutors so they can pass the GED. Some of the adults that are tutored only need a little push to gain a few extra points and pass. Others are just learning basic math and reading.
The learning involved with Adult Basic Education does not stop with the adult students. Teaching others is quite a learning experience in itself. Some of the Dartmouth volunteers might even feel as if they have learned more than their student. "I never knew how much I could learn by teaching" is a delightful realization. These new and mostly inexperienced teachers are doing it for others, but also for themselves. The gift of education is a special gift to give, and also to receive. Luckily for Dartmouth students, often both can be done simultaneously!
