Long Term Volunteer Experience

Program: Flagship
Term: 2012-2014
Supervisor: Katy Branston

I spent many hours as a volunteer for Flagship, an afternoon program, at

Hawthorne Elementary School. I was a regular instructor for four sessions of
Flagship from 2012 to 2014. This program is designed to engage youth with adult
mentors, establish healthy peer connections, facilitate improved school attendance and
academic performance, engender community service projects, and encourage individual
skill development, among other key impacts.
The first two sessions that I instructed was for an art group with students in
second and third grade for two hours once a week. Our job was to create activities
and lessons that would engage the students for two hours, once a week. My job as
one of the student leaders was to assist the students in their projects/activities and
to help manage student behaviors. We planned themed activities that encouraged
the students to mimic, or recreate, the style and art of famous painters and artists.
Projects ranged from clay work, paining, sculpting, collaging, designing, Paper
Mache, and drawing. Students learned to express themselves in ways that were
unfamiliar and pushed them to think outside the box.
The next session that I instructed, was a games/sports group that encouraged
students to engage in moderate to vigorous activity for two hours once a week.
These students ranged from kindergarten to second grade. This group of students
loved to play sports so we incorporated a variety of games such as, kickball,
football, basketball, and soccer that would motivate them to participate. We also
taught them games with balloons, dancing, movement, parachutes, etc. Each week
we chose a theme that we could incorporate a literacy component into and would
tie into that weeks game.

For my last session with Flagship I was student tutor for fourth and fifth grade
students in the Academic Lab. My job was to tutor students in math and reading, as
well as helping students finish up any homework for the nest day of school.