By Rianat Alao, Justice and Legal Thought
Young children are the key to the future, so it is necessary to educate them. In many cases, I would work with students whose first language was Spanish, so they struggled more with reading. As the weeks went on, I would see gradual improvements because the students felt the support around them, and they were just happy to be at the program.
This past semester, I have been interning with a nonprofit program called Excel Beyond the Bell. The goal of the program has been to assist low income families, and aid elementary school students beyond the classroom. The program is very important because it is nonprofit, which allows anyone to join, despite family income. The program does not necessarily seek to receive anything out of it, but its purpose is to simply help. The program offers various services, like homework help, speech lessons, cooking lessons, as well as reading and writing assistance. The students are split up by grade level and they are placed into a group of about 10-20 students, where 1 or 2 professional assistants lead the class, with the help of youth leaders like myself. Oftentimes students are not able to receive the necessary amount of help they need in a classroom setting, and the parents can not afford additional services to help them like Kumon or any other forms of tutoring, so that is where Excel Beyond the Bell comes in. Young children are the key to the future, so it is necessary to educate them. Here in my poster, I explained the benefits that I saw as a result of the program on students. A lot of students really enjoyed the Excel Beyond the Bell program making them more willing to learn. The students enjoyed it, because we were able to make learning fun. In order to do that, we offered incentives for accomplishments. In many cases, I would work with students whose first language was Spanish, so they struggled more with reading. As the weeks went on, I would see gradual improvements because the students felt the support around them, and they were just happy to be at the program.
Hi Rianat! Your project stood out to me because it was extremely unique compared to the other posters. Also, I love working with children so this internship looks very interesting to me. It is extremely important that all children are given the opportunity to succeed in these types of programs, especially at their own speed. Children learn at different speeds but it is so important to make sure every single child understands the given topic and can succeed like the rest of the students.
Hi Rianat,
I found your internship very wholesome. I was instantly drawn to this because in high school I worked as part of a free tutoring organization to offer help academic help outside of school for students and families that didn't have the resources to pay for expensive tutors. I believe it's so important to level the playing field for all students, regardless of their initial access to educational opportunities. School is meant to lift students up and provide them with opportunities to succeed, not highlight and widen educational disparities due to privilege, wealth, class, and race. You mention that in the future you hope to create a non-profit that connects to prisoners, so I'm wondering if you believe tha…
Rianat! Your project stood out to me the most due to its unique application to the JLT program. It is a given that government or political based internships complement the JLT program perfectly, yet your application of the scholars program to equality and educational justice for children was wholesome. This presentation taught me that the material I have learned in my CPJT courses applies to much more of society than I have realized. After engaging in this internship, were you more aware of educational injustice or did your perspective remain the same?