Panhellenic members help Elon Elementary teachers
Martha-Page Ransdall / Special Projects
Editor
A new program began last week that gives approximately 25
college students the chance to volunteer their time tutoring
kids at Elon Elementary School.
The program was an idea that Vickie Moehlman, detective
sergeant at Campus Safety and Police, had last fall. Moehlman
felt that students involved with Greek Life needed better
publicity on campus.
“All you hear are the bad things, and I thought
it’d be a great idea to get them involved with kids in
the elementary school,” Moehlman said.
Moehlman took her idea to the Pan-Hellenic Council, where
Kristin Stadelman, director of community service and
philanthropy for the council, began organizing the program.
“The Panhellenic Council jumped at the chance to begin
the tutoring program, while Kristin took the idea and ran
with it,” Moehlman said.
Stadelman spent several months planning and contacting
students in Greek Life to see if they would be interested in
tutoring once a week.
“I was flooded with e-mails from girls who wanted to
participate,” Stadelman said, who put together a
schedule that allowed room for all 25 volunteers to visit the
elementary school each week.
Stadelman worked to meet the needs of six teachers from Elon
Elementary who requested tutors for special-needs children in
their class.
“Some teachers wanted one tutor for one child to
create a one-on-one tutorial, while some teachers just needed
extra help in the classroom,” Stadelman said.
Most of the children who are being tutored need help in math
and reading, to prepare for the End of Grade (EOG) tests in
May. Students in third-, fourth- and fifth-grade students are
graded on a scale of one to five and they must score a three
or above in order to pass their grade.
Cynthia Rutledge, a third grade teacher at Elon Elementary
and director of tutoring services, thinks the new program
will be very helpful for students struggling in all areas of
their school work, including math and reading.
“These tutors really do help. Sometimes teachers will
have 25 students in their class and it’s hard to give
them the one-on-one attention they need,” Rutledge
said. “So the need for tutors is huge.”
Elon Elementary School has approximately 60 volunteers that
work closely with children whose grades and assessments
warrant the need for tutoring.
In the past, there have been issues with Elon University
students who come to volunteer at the elementary school.
“Some students weren’t showing up for their
weekly tutoring meetings with the kids, and we have had
problems with the way a few dressed,” Rutledge
explained.
She says there has not been any trouble with Elon tutors
this year.
“They’ve been great, just great,” she
said.
The program is in its beginning stages, but Moehlman and
Stadelman hope the number of volunteers will continue to
increase, so that they can begin to volunteer at other
schools in the Burlington area.
“The more people we get to volunteer, the more schools
we can reach out to,” Moehlman said.
While the program currently only has volunteers who are
active in Greek Life, Stadelman said it is open to anyone who
is interested.
“It was easy for me to contact people in Greek life
and I received a huge response from them,” Stadelman
said.
There are several events the tutoring program hopes to
arrange for the kids at Elon Elementary this semester.
Stadelman and Moehlman are planning a book fair to raise
money to buy books and to donate to the school.
The tutors are also planning to help out with the
school’s annual spring carnival, to be held in May.
Contact Martha-Page Ransdall pendulum@elon.edu or
278-7247.
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