Jumpstart
Jumpstart is a new program at NPU that connects students of any and all majors with preschoolers from low-income families to do a one-on-one mentoring curriculum. The program is nationally recognized and has sites at schools such as UC-Berkeley, Tufts and NYU. Visit the national organization website at www.jstart.org.
Focus: Jumpstart focuses on literacy and social skills development for preschool children in underserved communities so that they are more prepared to succeed in school.
Our Role: Corps members will go into a classroom at Hibbard Elementary (2 blocks away) for 2 hours twice per week to work with your partner child. Since day of a preschooler isn't all that academic, you’ll spend a lot of time playing...and kids learn while they play. Your job is to guide them so they're being productive- playing and learning as much as they can!
Schedule: The times that you'll need to be available for session are:
Tuesday/Thursday from 9:30am-11:30am OR Tuesday/Thursday from 12:30-2:30 (One of the afternoon sessions is conducted in Spanish)
Outside of that, you'll meet once per week with your team (9 other students) for an hour or so. You'll also spend 6-8 hours per week doing individual volunteering in classrooms and community service projects, but those hours are flexible according to your schedule. As far as compensation goes, you'll be awarded a $1000 AmeriCorps scholarship when you finish the school year term of 300 hours. If you like playing with kids (watching them learn & grow), then this is definitely something you'll enjoy doing. You'll have a lot of fun with your team and take away wonderful memories of your partner child (like that time when they wore their pants to school backwards).
Site Rating: Since Jumpstart is an AmeriCorps program, it is a great résumé builder regardless of what your future career will be. This program requires a considerable commitment in terms of training, preparation and consistency, but it is a comparably rewarding and valuable experience.
Site Coordinator: leana Garcia-Soto