Written by Anne Wodetzki, principal
During the month of April, Parkview Elementary will celebrate, honor, and say thank you to their faithful volunteers. Who are these faithful volunteers committed to the service of elementary age children? They are parents, grandparents, retired teachers and administrators, friends of staff members and, at large, our neighboring Valparaiso University students. Volunteers at Parkview Elementary contribute to the success of programs such as Study Buddies, GIFTS, Friday Night Live, classroom field trips as well as everyday classroom instruction. Parkview values volunteers because they give so much more than time; they mentor, they nurture and they genuinely care for children.
The Study Buddy program connects approximately 40 Valparaiso University student volunteers with elementary students in grades 1-5. Together they meet twice a week for one hour before or after school to work on a computer based program called Study Island. Volunteers intentionally model critical thinking necessary to attack and solve problems in English Language Arts and Math. Since the beginning of the Study Buddy program, both Parkview teachers and parents have recognized academic success. On the 2010 ISTEP+ assessment Parkview Elementary achieved a 9.7% growth in overall improvement.
The GIFTS program: Giving Individual Friendship and Time to Students is another volunteer supported program at Parkview Elementary. GIFTS provide primary age students support with basic reading and math skills.
Kindergarten teacher, Donna Battista began recruiting volunteers for this program in 2000 in order to provide more learning opportunities for her students. Today the program is going strong with volunteers spending 60 minutes per week mentoring Kindergarten students. Sometimes it takes a VU football player, a parent, or even a retired principal's commitment to give children the extra support and time necessary to become proficient with basic skills.
We would be remiss if we did not mention how much we value our Friday Night Live volunteers, AmeriCorps volunteers, parent volunteers, PTA, and community volunteers. Thank you for helping us to provide so much more for the students of Parkview. It may be best said with the words of Voltaire: "Appreciation is a wonderful thing. It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well." Thank you Parkview volunteers. We appreciate you!