BGSU Students are making a difference book by book, page by page and child by child through the Literary Serve and Learn Program.

By Lisa Lynch

In 1998, Toledo elementary children struggled to pass the Ohio state proficiency tests. Sadly, many students failed.

Questions of concern for the future of these students sent an urgent call to the region’s best human talent to assist these children.

The superintendent of the Toledo Public Schools at the time, Merril Grant, set a plan into action by challenging area college students to make an difference in the lives of the city’s children. BGSU took the challenge.

A diverse group of 225 administrators and students, who realized the necessity of assisting Toledo Public Schools, met the challenges of an urban education and the fight against illiteracy.

Literacy Serve and Learn (LSL) was born.

At first, it was a volunteer effort. But now, it is a formal class students can take. For two hours a week, BGSU students tutor kids at elementary schools in Toledo that have the greatest needs, based on proficiency test scores. The college students came from different majors and backgrounds, but they all had the same goal: each wanted to make a difference in the life of a child.

The LSL program combines learning and action into one process. While providing tutoring services, BGSU students learn about urban communities and urban education. They keep weekly journals, which helps them reflect on their experiences.

The one-on-one interaction builds caring relationships. By the end of the program, many BGSU students discover that not only have they taught these kids to enjoy reading, but that they, too, have learned things about themselves that a professor, a classroom or a textbook could never teach them.

Jamie Augustine, a sophomore, participated in LSL last year. She said the students taught her the art of patience. “It is so important to give these kids attention,” she said. “They want to learn, but sometimes it’s difficult for them to grasp things so they give up. You have to make it fun.”

Sophomore Beth Hoenfeld said that it was a shock to walk in the classroom and see how hard these students struggled. She said the experience helped her to stop stereotyping others. “I kind of went in there thinking they really didn’t want to learn,” Hoenfeld said. “But that’s not true. They were all so excited. And the fact that they were working one on one with a college student only added to it.”

Augustine said you do not realize how attached you become to the students you teach. “You go there once a week for two hours and you talk with the student,” she said. “You learn about his or her life. You’re more than a teacher, you’re a friend.”

Ideally, each student is assigned to one Toledo public school child for an entire semester to develop an emotional, as well as academic, relationship. But because of the high absentee rate in urban schools, this has been a difficult goal to achieve. In this case, students are sometimes assigned two or three children for the semester.

“It would be nice if you could be with the same student the whole semester, but it’s also a good feeling to know that you are impacting not just the life of one child, but many lives,” said Hoenfeld.

Karen Duvall, a senior, did not get the chance to form the kind of relationship she would have liked to because she was rarely with the same person. There was one girl, however, who made a lasting impression on her.

“I met with this girl three times and that was a huge deal,” said Duvall. “She opened up to me about her home life. There were times when I had to force myself not to cry. To her it was more about connecting then the actual content of the story we were reading.”

Hoenfeld said BGSU students of all ages should participate in LSL. “It’s especially great for freshmen because it’s free transportation and it could help them decide what they want to do with their lives,” she said.

Rhonda Stockard, the coordinator of LSL, said that many people get the wrong idea when they think of illiteracy. It does not always mean that a person cannot read. It can come in many forms. For example, a lot of the students at the Toledo public schools can read, but they cannot understand what they are reading. As a result, they fail the test. “A lot of them are intelligent and have a strong desire to learn, but they just can’t pass the proficiency test and that is not always an accurate test of their knowledge,” Stockard said.

Stockard also said that the individualized attention and additional support of the volunteers make a big difference on how fast the student progresses.

Duvall said that even though two years have gone by since her involvement in LSL the memory of her experiences have stayed with her. As an education major, it helped her learn how to connect with students on a deeper level.

As for advice to students who are thinking about getting involved in LSL, “Don’t be shocked when you walk in the room, but at the same time expect to be shocked,” said Duvall. “Keep an open mind and realize that they are just people like us and need as much help as you can give them. You may never know the impact that you will make on a child’s life just by being their friend.”