Centario Grier tutors Julianne Welch, a third grader.
Four days a week, a van full of future teachers and other students from Western Carolina University pulls into the Cherokee Youth Center parking lot at 3:30. The moment these college students pile out of the car and walk into the center, they are swarmed by elementary schools students eager for one-on-one tutoring, mostly in math and reading. The shy ones are urged on by their moms and their grandmothers to pair up fast and get to work.
These students – the older, college ones and the 2nd through 6th graders — are participating in the SMART (Successful Mentoring through Artistic expression, Reading for life, and Telling our story) program funded by Cherokee Preservation Foundation and supported in various ways by Western University’s College of Education, Western’s Cherokee Studies program and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. The Western students have proved to be gifted, patient, gung ho teachers, and the children are crazy about them. They are improving academically as a result of their individualized learning plans and the mentoring.
A student from Western’s Cherokee Studies program teaches weekly Cherokee language classes to the CYC children. Students have been so enthusiastic about this aspect of the SMART program that the Cherokee Language Club was formed. Sometimes elders from the community join in and share their knowledge of Cherokee history and culture with the children.
Other mentors are working with older children on Cherokee Youth Center plays and other group activities. Sixteen Western students participate in the program, and about 50 Cherokee youngsters are benefiting from tutoring, language workshops and other activities.
“It’s a win-win-win-win-win situation for everyone,” said Leah Hampton, who directs the program for Western. “The children get help with their schoolwork and become more aware of their culture. The mentors gain great experience, especially those who are teachers in training. Parents tell us that they can spend more time with their children in the evenings because the kids have been able to do much or all of their homework with their tutor. The Cherokee Youth Center is able to offer more programming to the children they serve, and I have the pleasure of running the program. After a busy day of teaching classes and going to meetings, I love to sit down and read a book with a second grader.”
Freeman Owle, who serves as Elder in Residence at Western’s Cherokee Studies program, helps the college student tutors understand the realities of teaching children whose culture differs from their own.
