By Sofia Bosio, Justice and Legal Thought
The majority of the students we work with in Lakeland STARs come from underprivileged families. Teaching them about fairness and equity made us hopeful that it would help them understand and break societal patterns of injustice and inequality.
Hello, thank you so much for stopping in to look at my poster and for attending the Academic Showcase this year. So, let me tell you a little bit about my service-learning project! For my capstone, I decided to volunteer as a tutor for Lakeland STARs, which is a program whose goal is to enrich elementary school students’ academic experiences by providing one-on-one tutoring and special attention to each students’ needs. As a tutor on a weekly basis, I would help students complete their homework and participate in enrichment activities. It was a humbling experience meeting all of the students and knowing that our help was impacting them so much. For my specific capstone activity, we attempted to focus on teaching the students about fairness and equity in an easy, but effective, way. The majority of the students we work with in Lakeland STARs come from underprivileged families. Teaching them about fairness and equity made us hopeful that it would help them understand and break societal patterns of injustice and inequality. I, along with other Justice and Legal Thought students, decided to first split up the students into two groups by grades-- Kindergarten- 3rd grade and 4th-6th grade. We then administered two exams to each group, an easy one and an extremely hard one, promising to reward the group that finished first. The kids who had the easy exams obviously finished first and when the other students complained about this method being unfair, we went into a discussion about fairness and equity in the “real world.” The students were extremely engaged during the conversation and I believe we accomplished our goal of effectively teaching the students. Overall, Lakeland STARs taught me a lot about myself and I am lucky to have been apart of it. Thank you so much for listening. If you have any questions, don’t be afraid to ask!
I was interested in your project because I was considering joining Lakeland STARs next year to tutor. I loved your groups method for teaching the students about fairness and equity through an easy to understand, hands on example. I also loved hearing about the program's impact on you and your decision to minor in public policy. Did you have previous experience with tutoring?
Hi Sofia!
I really enjoyed reading about your experience with Lakeland STARs since I’m also considering volunteering with them next year. I think it’s great that tutors conduct activities to connect with students further than just tutoring them.
Hey Sofia!
I was drawn to your presentation because I have heard so many good things about Lakeland STARS and am very interested in being apart of it. I learned a lot about the basics of what you do as a student mentor. I really liked how you connected JLT lessons of fairness and equity to the lessons you taught the children. Q: We are taught that education is the key to success in this country, what other lessons and advice would you give your mentees about how to be successful in light of the many disadvantages and obstacles they may face along the way?
Hi Sofia!
I immediately was drawn to your poster because I am also a part of STARs and love the program! I think STARs does have such a huge impact like you discussed because it forces you to take a step back and kind of relearn in order to help the kids more effectively. How can we help others better understand the setbacks that these students face? Also I miss Amilcar and Khalil every week!