The local chapter of Volunteers of America has launched Learning Works, a new after-school program that is helping more than 100 Wilkes-Barre Area School District students from low income families. This innovative program is designed to teach skills that lead to school success, present a variety of career paths, provide a “hands-on” work opportunity, and help families prepare their children for high school and beyond.
Once a week from January through May, 33 local middle school students, called “Learning Workers,” spend an afternoon on the campus of King’s College, where college student volunteers tutor and mentor them on a one-to-one basis. Mentors and their assigned Learning Workers end the session by eating dinner together in the Sheehy-Farmer Campus Center.
Volunteer tutors and faculty members of the college will guide the students through a “hands-on” project that will include elements of reading, financial literacy, career exploration, math, and technology. The goal of the project will be for students to develop a product which they will sell at a popular local festival in May.
King’s will also host an evening event for the Learning Workers and their families in early April. Called “Dinner with the Pro’s,” it will bring together working people from a variety of career paths to talk about their experiences and opportunities in their field or industry. This event is designed to help Learning Workers find inspiration for a final presentation each will do on a career that interests them. They will use King’s College’s D. Leonard Corgan Library for their research.King’s staff members also helped to develop an on-campus kick-off workshop for the program held in January.
Visit King’s website to learn more.
