Student lessons in service

The Times, March 18, 2002

Joel Bewley

     A week spent in a city special education classroom has convinced college sophomore Allison McKenna she should become a teacher.

     The Lake Forest (IL) College students gave up their spring break to work with five students between the ages of 9 and 12. Instead of sunbathing on a beach during the pas week, she helped provide reading and math instruction and also ate lunch with the youngsters at Gregory Elementary School.

     "This has probably been the greatest experience I have ever had," she said. "They made me feel so appreciated in class as if I were actually helping them. It made me realize that I have a lot to share with other people."

     McKenna is one of 11 students and two faculty members who came to the city from the college under a spring break program that places students in community service programs.

     The AmeriCorps sponsored program, dubbed National School and Community Corps, is in place in the Trenton and Plainfield school systems in New Jersey," said Nancie Dent, Director of the state chapter of the program.

     More than 30,000 college students in America participated in the program last year according to the program's website.

     This is the second year McKenna has been involved with the program. Last year she helped build house in North Carolina.

     She had planned to become a counselor or social worker after graduation, but now will give serious thought to obtaining a teaching certificate, she said.

     "I really got close to the students, and it was really exciting watching them light up when they were able to recall something they had been taught," she said Friday, the last day of the program.

     The students slept at the Westminster Presbyterian Church on Greenwood Avenue, where Dent is an elder. They donated $500 to the church and $200 to the National School and Community Corps.

     This was not the first time the church has hosted a community service group according to Rev. Karen Hernandez-Grazen.

     "Our church is a nice place to stay for these groups," she said. "We are happy to be involved with these kinds of activities."