WVU Extension
Energy Express is an eight week summer service opportunity that makes a difference in the lives of children living in West Virginia. Children living in rural and low-income communities often fall behind academically during the summer months, starting each school year behind where they were the previous spring. Successive summers of limited learning opportunities may cause children to fall below grade level by the end of elementary school. Many of these children also suffer nutritionally. Energy Express promotes children’s school success by providing summer learning experiences focused on reading and eating two nutritious meals served family-style. The program works! Evaluation results show that most children enrolled in Energy Express either maintain or increase their reading skills. Each site is composed of team of 5 to 8 college-student mentors and a community coordinator supervised by a site supervisor who is usually an elementary teacher. Youth and adult volunteers support the program.
Member Duties: There are two different opportunities 1. mentors who serve directly with children and 2. community coordinators who serve directly with volunteers. Both positions receive a $4050.00 living allowance and $1565.08 education award. College Student mentors create an enriching environment focused on reading, writing, and art that makes learning fun for a small group of school-age children. A mentor also eats breakfast and lunch with the children–a valuable time to develop strong bonds with the children. A community coordinator connects the parents and community to the site by recruiting, training, and supervising volunteers to read with children. Both positions attend both a statewide and local training and make home visits to the children’s residences. At the end of each day, the site team (mentors, community coordinators and site supervisor) meet to reflect, train and prepare for the next day. Site teams also complete a community service project.
Program Benefits: Living Allowance , Education award upon successful completion of service , Training , possible college credit .
Terms:
Uniforms provided and required , Prohibits paid work outside of the sponsoring agency at any time .
Service Areas:
Children/Youth , Hunger , Education .
Skills:
All majors , General Skills .
To apply for this job email your details to evan@generationwv.org