America Reads Student Spotlight: Isabel Muniz-Modesto

My name is Isabel Muniz-Modesto, I am a senior Psychology major and minor in Education. I am originally from White Plains, NY. I am involved with U&ME, United and Mutually Equal, another club on campus. I also do on-campus tutoring every Monday and Wednesday evening, where Springfield Public School students are able to come to our campus and receive one-on-one help from college students here at WNE. I like to hangout with friends, go for long walks, go to to the mall and watch Netflix in my free time. I heard about the America Reads program during my freshman year here at school. I joined the program because I wanted to be involved in the community around me and wanted to do something that involved helping people. I am working with third graders and kindergarteners. I have enjoyed my time with the America Reads program and the time I've spent in my classroom; the teacher has been so helpful and the kids are wonderful. I love going to work with them and wish I could go more often.

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Update from the Center for Civic Engagement: Isabel has spent all four years of her college work study experience with our program. She was recently offered a position at the elementary school she has been serving for the last four years. We are very proud to have had her participation in our program, and we are very excited to see where her post-graduation path leads her! Best of luck with everything!

America Reads Student Spotlight: Ryan Wallace

Hello! I’m Ryan Wallace and I am a freshman here majoring in Pre-Pharmacy.  When I’m not studying or doing homework, you can find me helping out with the Residence Hall Association, where I am a Hall Representative for Franklin Hall.  I am also a part of the Pre-Pharmacy Club and a volunteer with the Accepted Students Day Program.  For fun, I like to hang out with my friends or go to the gym.  I heard about America Reads during the job fair at the beginning of the year.  In high school, I actively tutored during free periods, so America Reads interested me greatly.  I joined because I have always liked to help others.  I get a feeling of satisfaction when I am tutoring, especially when I see that a student really learned something.  Currently, I am working at Putnam High School with 9^th through 12^th graders.  I am mainly there to help students with their science and math courses.  Every time I go into tutor, I get the pleasure of learning something from them as well.  It has been very fun working with America Reads, and I hope to return next year!! 

America Reads Student Spotlight: Simon Veilleux

     Thank you for extending the Student Spotlight opportunity my way, your consideration of me for such a role is greatly appreciated! I learned about the America Reads program by speaking with the receptionist at the office for Human Resources in Rivers. The woman I spoke with handed me the America Reads pamphlet and told me that if I was interested in making a difference in the Springfield community, I could talk with the Center for Civic Engagement in the Campus Center for more information. After some deliberation, I came to the conclusion that if I were to be working, I would want to do something selfless rather than selfish. The America Reads program is a great way for me to accomplish this because I get to spend time one on one with kids who need some extra help that they can’t always receive without the efforts from people like me. I currently am placed with sixth and seventh graders, and I really enjoy the time I get to spend befriending and working through math problems with them. After working thirty to forty hours a week for the past three years in food service, this program is a much more rewarding career for me. To drive home every day with a smile on my face instead of a grimace is something I am not used to, but I really like it.     
I am from Charlton, Massachusetts, and I have three siblings. I plan to major in Civil Engineering with an Environmental concentration, and minor in Spanish. I spend the majority of my free time on campus watching Netflix, hanging out with friends and my girlfriend, and hoping that the dining hall will have stuffing at dinner. I love to hike, fish, and I can’t wait for spring to actually start. 

Regards, 
Simon 

America Reads Student Spotlight: Michelle Corriveau

My name is Michelle Corriveau and I’m from Berlin, Connecticut. I’m a freshman majoring in Psychology. I love to bake, do yoga, watch Netflix with friends and spend time with my family.  I’m involved with the Polling Institute and also tutor local kids through the On Campus Tutoring program. Next year I plan on spending my spring semester studying abroad in Australia. I learned about the America Reads program on the Career Center website. Over the summer, I was looking for a work study position and this opportunity jumped out at me. To me, working with children seemed like it would be interesting, a chance to have a job to do more than just sit at a desk. I work in a first grade classroom at Freedman Elementary, which is right down the road. Though there are challenges working with kids and it can get a little chaotic at times, I wouldn't trade it for anything. Watching kids learn and progress is really rewarding because I know I had a part in helping that child to grow and succeed. The relationship I have with the students I work with makes it all worthwhile. As soon as I walk into the classroom I’m bombarded with hugs. I have so many drawings and pictures from them that I have a corkboard in my room just dedicated to things they’ve made me. I look forward to every time I go to work because I know I have a job where I make a difference in the kids’ lives, as they make a difference in mine. 

America Reads Student Spotlight: Jerome Wilson

Hello! My name is Jerome Wilson. I am currently a Junior here at Western New England University majoring in Management Leadership and minoring in ERP/SAP systems. Throughout my years at this University, I have been involved with many organizations. Since freshman year, I have been a part of the Western New England Football Team, an active member of United and Mutually Equal (U&ME), and an active member of the Student Senate, representing the student residents of my campus. This year, I wanted to expand my horizons even more, so I took the opportunity to become a mentor for incoming freshmen as part of a United and Mutually Equal Connections Mentoring Program.

Furthermore, I have had the great honor of working with America Reads. I am currently working with first graders on a weekly basis, and it has been an amazing experience. My perspective on how it would be working with these kids prior to getting hired dramatically changed after actually spending a day with them. Before working for this program, I applied for this job primarily because of the pay it had to offer. I did feel I fit the job description as well, but that was not my main motivation. After my first day working, my viewpoint changed. The way the kids opened up to me and accepted me as not only their tutor, but as their friend, really touched me. After only two days of working with these kids I knew all of their names and I felt I was really able to connect with most of them from a tutor to student basis. From attending bi-weekly meetings with the America Reads Student Coordinators, I found myself answering simple questions in a way that I was really opening up and expressing how much joy working with these students brought to me. Seeing the excitement brought to the faces of these first graders after helping them solve a problem, or even having small talk with them and showing that I was interested and excited about what they had to say really made me feel good inside. Working for America Reads has opened my eyes to how meaningful this program really is.  Helping these first graders means so much more to me now, more than just receiving a paycheck. Assisting these kids is not a walk in the park at times. They are full of energy and can be a handful, especially seeing them after a full day of classes. However, every day I leave from the school I never regret it. Going back to campus knowing I made twenty three students smile, laugh, and more educated is well worth it!

America Reads Student Spotlight: Gabrielle Robinson

My name is Gabrielle Robinson. I am currently a freshman at Western New England University, majoring in Biomedical Engineering.

I first heard about the America Reads program through a university wide email and thought that it would be a nice way to branch out from all of the science and math I’m around all day, as well as to have opportunity to do something a bit different. I can honestly say that it’s been such an amazing experience and I’m so glad I stumbled across that email.

Since joining America Reads, I’ve been volunteering at the Brightwood Elementary School in Springfield working in a kindergarten classroom. I typically go into the classroom two to three times a week and work with all the kids- helping them learn how to read, write, do math – everything really. A typical day includes drawing a picture and writing a sentence to accompany it, learning new words and learning how to spell them, and right now the kids are learning about chickens as they just had baby chicks hatch in their classroom. Seeing how fast they can pick up and retain information and want to learn is absolutely amazing to see. I truly have been placed in such a remarkable classroom; the teacher and kids couldn’t be better and that makes the volunteering completely worth it.   

America Reads:

Do you have work study? Do you like working with kids? Do you want to be part of a work study job on campus that has the ability to make an impact on the surrounding Springfield community? Would you like to build your own work schedule? If you answered yes to any of these questions, America Reads is the program for you!

America Reads is a service program based in local public schools that focuses on increasing the learning of the children enrolled through tutoring and mentoring from students like you and me.

“In Springfield public schools, there are typically large class sizes and very limited resources. Our program works to support both the teachers and the students of these schools by placing more people in the classroom to provide more one-on-one and small group attention, despite the lack of resources,” said Carter McClintock, the Community Outreach Specialist in the Center for Civic Engagement here on campus.

America Reads is supportive of its student tutors as it searches out perfect matches for schools and classrooms, making sure to fit the tutors specific availabilities and strengths. Each tutor receives a specific training prior to being placed in a classroom and once the experience has begun, the tutor is able to find even more support from the different offices and teachers of his or her school. The America Reads Program is well-known and well-respected throughout the community.

Right now, Western New England and the Center for Civic Engagement have a group of 40+ students tutoring on 12+ different sites. The program is for the students, run by the students. It boasts two inspiring, responsible student coordinators who are unbelievably dedicated to the program’s progress and well-being.

The two student coordinators, Meghan Cobane and Sam Cortes, will be attending a four day conference called Impact in Valparaiso, Indiana to meet other coordinators from all over the country and share what our program is about.

“At this workshop, we’re going to be presenting about the workings of our program. This conference will give us the chance to see other programs and get feedback about ours, as well. It’s substantial to prolong and better our program,” said coordinator Sam Cortes.

The program is a great opportunity to get involved in the community surrounding Western New England while earning a work study award.

“The program provides a great learning opportunity and hands-on experience outside of the traditional Western New England classroom. It gives tutors professional experience and helps them grow in a way that they wouldn’t necessarily grow in a classroom,” said Cortes. 

“The program is [also] a great leadership opportunity. It brings our students into the Springfield community and outside of their comfort zone here on campus,” added coordinator Meghan Cobane.

The America Reads program not only provides mentoring opportunities, but it also creates a chance for the students from campus to meet with each other every month to connect through their varying experiences. 

“Often during our reflection sessions, tutors will come in and say how awesome they feel when they walk into a classroom and see their students get excited,” said Cobane.

The program is progressing at an excellent rate and with the help of the student coordinators, it will continue to progress.

“Our goal is to provide students with a great experience, but also to allow children of the community to obtain the presence of role models,” said Cortes.

Students interested in applying to the America Reads Program should visit the Center for Civic Engagement on the second floor of the campus center for more information.