Kids and seniors create bonds in volunteer reading program

By Cathi Douglas

Kinoshita Elementary Principal Jackie Campbell gets chills when she sees how much her fourth and fifth graders enjoy reading after school with their volunteer tutors — especially when one considers their age differences.

Selected Kinoshita Elementary School students are reading virtually with senior citizen volunteers twice weekly, Campbell says, in a program sponsored by the Parentis Foundation.

The results have been remarkable.

“Involving the tutors with our students has been one of the best decisions we’ve made to really support the academic, social, and emotional growth of our fourth- and fifth-grade students,” Campbell says. “They share their joys and successes in school with their mentors, and the supportive engagement from the adult volunteers is truly powerful.”

“It’s been really inspirational,” she continues. “It is rare for a student to miss an after-school tutoring session because they look forward to that individual attention.”

Students read books at their level and once they have mastered the book with fluency and comprehension, they get to keep the book and receive a new book at a higher reading level, explains Brad Shearer, the Capistrano Unified School District’s assistant superintendent for elementary school leadership and instruction.

“It is pure joy witnessing the interaction between students and tutors and to hear and see the progress Kinoshita students are making in reading,” he said.

One student, Hayden, says he enjoys having a private tutor.

“I like him listening to me read,” Hayden says.

Campbell learned about the Parentis Foundation’s program from Janice Frechette-Artinger, executive director of the Laguna Hills-based nonprofit. The foundation is a nonprofit affiliate of Parentis Health, a company providing healthcare services to seniors, and partners with AARP, the American Association of Retired Persons.

“When we launched the foundation, we knew we wanted an intergenerational component,” Frechette-Artinger says. “As a member of the board of the Boys & Girls Club of Capistrano Valley, I saw the needs of families and knew that intergenerational tutoring could help fill that gap.”

Today, the joint effort known as the Experience Corps Intergenerational Literacy Program operates at nine Orange County locations with 115 senior volunteers providing 450 individual tutoring sessions every week, she says.

“Our volunteer mentors are 50 and over and 99 percent of them are retired,” she says. “Most of them come to us through word of mouth, as well as through the AARP’s recruitment for literacy volunteers and local senior centers.”

Armed with 16 hours of training, the volunteers use interventional and social skills as they spend one-on-one time reading with the children. Each volunteer commits to a full school year of twice-weekly, one-hour sessions online.

“It’s fun and you learn new things,” says fourth grader Paula.

Another fourth grader, Neymar, agreed: “I get to read with the tutor and she listens to me.”

Retired Rancho Santa Margarita resident Chris Johnson has volunteered as a Parentis reading tutor at various locations for five years.

“I get a big kick out of watching the kids improve,” says Johnson, whose wife, Natalie, also volunteers with the program. “We get so much enjoyment seeing their accomplishments.”

Indeed, says Kinoshita fourth-grade teacher Marla Andre, “Parentis tutors build a great rapport with the students and help them develop confidence in their reading abilities.”

“The students are always engaged, focused, and motivated to read,” Andre says.

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