CAMPUS COMPACT OF OREGON
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Organizational Equity
    • Our Staff
    • Our Board
    • Campus Members >
      • Become a Campus Member
    • Associate Members >
      • Become an Associate Member
    • Our Programs
    • COVID-19
    • Contact Us
    • News
    • Donate
  • Programs
    • BIPoC Teachers Program
    • Connect2Complete: Equitable Pathways
    • Higher Education in Prison
    • K-12 Mentoring & Student Success
    • Portland United Against Hate
    • Postsecondary Access
    • Summer Programs >
      • C2C Equitable Pathways Summer Bridge
      • Summer VISTA
    • VISTA
  • Racial Justice
    • Black Liberation in Higher Education
    • Reading for Racial Justice
    • Consulting and Technical Assistance
  • Civic Engagement
    • End Hate in Education Summit
    • Racial Justice Campus Collaborative
  • Initiatives
    • In-Service Trainings
    • Blog
    • Book Store
    • Community Job Board
    • Equity Resource Library
    • HB 2864 Support & Implementation >
      • Presidential Summit
    • Training
    • Upcoming Learning Opportunities

Impact Story: The Teach, Learn Grow Program Invests Long-Term in Students with Support from College Access Corps Members

6/26/2019

1 Comment

 
PictureFrom left: Efrain Alonso, '15-16 VISTA alum and Chemeketa employee, Cassandra Martinez, '18-19 CAC Member, Sam Matz, '18-19 CAC Leader, Kaycie Lopez Jones, College Access Corps Program Manager, and Supervisor Elias Villegas at a Fall 2018 site visit. Cassandra created the altar for the campus' Dia de los Muertos celebration.
With Elias Villegas, Dean and supervisor, Cassandra Martinez, '18-19 CAC member and TLG Coordinator, and Alvaro Mendoza, '17-18 CAC alumnus

The Teach, Learn, Grow program at Chemeketa Woodburn was founded six years ago with the support of Campus Compact of Oregon VISTAs, and College Access Corps members have coordinated the program ever since. At TLG, CAC members recruit, train, and coach Chemeketa students to become community volunteers. The students act as mentors and provide academic support for middle and high school students in Woodburn.

TLG’s recipe for college-K12 mentorship is about long-term investment in students and the Woodburn community. The program encourages community engagement and volunteering, builds a college-going culture in local schools, and encourages students who may not have considered it before to pursue teaching in the community as a long-term career. And it’s working. Says Elias: “Some of the students who went through the program as youth are now Chemeketa students. We have had a few of them become mentors. And some of the students who were mentors 5 years ago are now teachers – they went to Chemeketa, transferred to Pacific University across the street, and are now teaching here in our community.”

How do they do it? “We would not be able to do this great work without this support from the AmeriCorps program,” says Elias.  College Access Corps members recruit mentors at Chemeketa by visiting classrooms at the start of term, set up a booth at schools during lunchtimes to recruit youth, match mentors with youth they connect with, create curriculum and fun activities for weekly sessions, plan university visit field trips, and organize service days and community events such as Woodburn Proud City Clean Up Day and Cinco de Mayo. Chemeketa also makes serving with TLG worthwhile for its students. The college students take a free mentoring class for 2 elective credits, and they can take it up to three times, so it can actually save students money on school.

TLG is transformative for both the K12 youth and the Chemeketa students. “When the youth build a relationship with college students they are more engaged in academics. Then once they realize how important education is, it changes their perspective. Then they also give back to their communities," CAC alum Alvaro Mendoza explains. 

“There was a mentor who thought she only wanted to do the program for one term,” shares current CAC member Cassandra Martinez. “Then she got really attached to three students at the middle school. She decided to come back for winter term, then spring term. When we have mentors come back, it brings a lot of joy to me because they are enjoying their community and making an impact.”

Alvaro also remembers “a young gentleman who was a mentor, was able to get a Ford Foundation Scholarship for a full ride to PSU because of the community service he did through TLG. He told his story about his mentoring experience in his essay. I was honored to write him a letter of recommendation.”

Elias agrees. “Many students who come to college don’t know what they want to study, and through this program they go on to become teachers. Our students have changed majors, and became teachers in our community.”

1 Comment

    Archives

    February 2021
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    May 2017
    February 2017
    October 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012

    RSS Feed

620 SW 5th Avenue ⎥ Suite 910 ⎥ Portland, Oregon 97204 

About Us

Contact Us
Staff
Board
Programs
​Campus Members
Associate Members
​

AmeriCorps

Host an AmeriCorps Member
Become an AmeriCorps Member
AmeriCorps VISTA
Connect2Complete
​Connect2Complete Summer Bridge

AmeriCorps Summer VISTA
​

REACH

Consulting
2020 REACH Institutional Equity Training & Fundraiser


​

RESOURCES

Equity Resource Library
Book Store

Job Board
Conferences
National Campus Compact Resources

Events

2020 REACH Institutional Equity Training & Fundraiser
​MLK Day
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Organizational Equity
    • Our Staff
    • Our Board
    • Campus Members >
      • Become a Campus Member
    • Associate Members >
      • Become an Associate Member
    • Our Programs
    • COVID-19
    • Contact Us
    • News
    • Donate
  • Programs
    • BIPoC Teachers Program
    • Connect2Complete: Equitable Pathways
    • Higher Education in Prison
    • K-12 Mentoring & Student Success
    • Portland United Against Hate
    • Postsecondary Access
    • Summer Programs >
      • C2C Equitable Pathways Summer Bridge
      • Summer VISTA
    • VISTA
  • Racial Justice
    • Black Liberation in Higher Education
    • Reading for Racial Justice
    • Consulting and Technical Assistance
  • Civic Engagement
    • End Hate in Education Summit
    • Racial Justice Campus Collaborative
  • Initiatives
    • In-Service Trainings
    • Blog
    • Book Store
    • Community Job Board
    • Equity Resource Library
    • HB 2864 Support & Implementation >
      • Presidential Summit
    • Training
    • Upcoming Learning Opportunities