Calling all readers: Volunteers needed

Sep. 15—GOSHEN — Real Mentors Read is seeking volunteers for the upcoming season.

Sharon Sarber, Goshen Community Schools, volunteer engagement specialist, said the program formerly known as Real Men Read, has expanded to encompass kindergarten through fourth grade.

A partnership with the Crossroads United Way, Read United through Elkhart Community Schools and Goshen Community Schools began in 2011. Books are purchased by United Way. Last year 103 volunteers supported 110 classes by reading the provided books on various topics to students of Goshen Community School classrooms.

"It's a really great program," said Alia White, a third-grade teacher at Chamberlain Elementary School. "Seeing it done in other classrooms before I was a third-grade teacher, students love it."

For White and other teachers, the program also offers them some much-valued time behind the scenes in their classroom.

"It's someone new in the classroom and I think it gets the attention of my students," she said. "They treat the volunteers as celebrities. They ask questions about their lives and make connections and my kids really buy into it."

White's husband, TJ, volunteers in her classroom.

"It's really cool for me to be able to see my husband do it," White said. "My husband is from England so it adds an extra element of fun for my students. It's a great way to show our students the possibilities that they have beyond our Chamberlain community. Especially for our boy students. Reading is commonly a girl thing, but my boy students, during reading time, became really excited during Reading Time because they got to read the books he was reading."

Through the four-week-long program spanning the end of October through mid-November, volunteers will work with teachers to schedule times to come in and read to the class each week. It's preferred if each class can have its own volunteer to connect with.

"They introduce themselves," Sarber said. "They share about their careers. Another benefit to this program is its career exploration for students so we like to have a variety of volunteers."

There are also special options at some schools. At Waterford, for example, Sarber hopes to take advantage of the already existing dual language emersion program to allow for Spanish-speaking volunteers.

"It would be wonderful to diversify volunteers by getting more bilingual people into classrooms so I could introduce bilingual books," Sarber said.

In White's classroom, the majority of her students are Spanish speakers and four students in third grade at the school don't yet speak English.

"Whenever I can have books in English and Spanish that's incredible," she said. "Most of my students speak Spanish, so having (volunteers who are) able to speak in Spanish is really cool."

This year, surveys were sent to teachers in the program so they could also be involved in choosing the books that would be read.

"Areli Is a Dreamer: A True Story by Areli Morales, a DACA Recipient" was selected by teachers in almost every grade.

"I just think it's so interesting that this, basically, nonfiction selection has hit a chord with teachers," Sarber said. "Knowing that Goshen has about 50% Spanish (speaking) students, this is a title or book about a topic that is going to hit home or cause students to have a connection with it.

Books are chosen for each grade level, in fiction and nonfiction.

"The books that we had last year for the program, a lot of them had characters that were Black or brown and they were going through real-life situations," White said. "One was about Jim Crow laws and we were able to read that and talk about what that experience was for our students. It made a lot of really tough conversations more accessible because they were able to see what this actually means and some were able to connect to experiences they've dealt with before."

Another book this year, titled, "I Am Every Good Thing," by Derrick Barnes, tells the story of a boy who finds out everything that is good about himself.

"It's showing kids that their community cares about them," Sarber said. "Not only reading a story and spending time with them but sharing about themselves and connecting with their students. We have some volunteers that end up reading the entire year. They go in for the four weeks and they like it so much. That's important for kids to see that adults in our community care about them."

The deadline to apply as a volunteer for Real Mentors Read is Oct. 7. People from all walks of life are welcome, although a background check is required.

For more information on Real Mentors Read, contact Sarber at ssarber@goshenschools.org or to view other GCS volunteer opportunities year-round, visit https://www.goshenschools.org/public-records/gap-volunteers.

Dani Messick is the education and entertainment reporter for The Goshen News. She can be reached at dani.messick@goshennews.com or at 574-538-2065.