VOL.10 NO. 4      SPRING 2001

HALL MONITORS

Teachers aren’t the only U representatives roaming the halls of Utah’s schools.

Each year, about 100 U students volunteer in local schools through the Bennion Community Service Center. These volunteers spend at least one class period a week in an assigned school, and most spend another two to three hours per week helping teachers, working with students one-on-one, and translating at parent-teacher conferences.

The most important service they provide, however, is acting as role models for the students with whom they interact, according to Chris Van Dam, the Bennion Center project director at Northwest Middle School in Rose Park, who supervises 15 volunteers there.

“The image of what we’re doing is almost more important than what we’re doing,” he says. “The teachers feel supported by the community because we’re there, and we help the kids become better students. The interaction of University students with middle-school students instills in the younger students a vision of the potential they have, what they can do with their lives.”

The increasing diversity in Utah schools has made communication among students, teachers, and parents challenging. When students speak 16 different languages, as they do at Northwest Middle School, something as simple as parent-teacher conferences can become difficult.

“We simply accept that challenge as part of our culture and find ways to deal with it,” Van Dam says. “Bringing in volunteers and holding ESL [English as a Second Language] classes for parents is a good way to do this.” He adds, “Volunteers do so much good, even if it’s just getting people out of their comfort zones and into the realm of social responsibility. When you see relationships develop and people having fun and learning, it really is a neat thing.”

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