PBSC wins award for middle school tutoring program
Palm Beach State College recently received a silver award in the public sector category from the Palm Beach County School District for its role in launching a volunteer tutoring program for students at Jupiter Middle School.
The award was presented at the school district’s annual Volunteer & Business Partners Awards Breakfast. The volunteer tutoring program is designed to help English Language Learner (ELL) students at Jupiter Middle School boost their reading and language skills.
Students from the Dr. Floyd F. Koch Honors College and Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society on the Palm Beach Gardens campus volunteered each week from November to February at the school’s after-school program. The program was created through a partnership with administrators at the Palm Beach Gardens campus and the ESOL team at Jupiter Middle. Kathryn Thomasson, math professor and Honors College faculty liaison for the Palm Beach Gardens campus, and Spanish professor Dr. Emmanuel Alvarado helped coordinate tutoring schedules.
According to Jody Nolf, ESOL coordinator at Jupiter Middle, PBSC students helped more than 20 students through the program.
“A lot of times these ELL students feel like they get lost in the shuffle,” Nolf said. “This time, however, they knew this program was specifically targeted for them. They felt really cared about and even bonded with those PBSC student tutors who themselves used to be in their shoes as former ELL students.”
The award was presented May 3 in West Palm Beach. PBSC and Jupiter Middle School hope to continue the program this fall.
