Students get help learning in community
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Samantha Sinclair/scoutingaround@cherokeescout.com Mattie Ann Brown assists granddaughter Kameryn Brown with her schoolwork at the Texana Community Center.
When he heard that local students would only be in the school building twice a week and learning virtually the remaining three days, Eurial Turner got an idea.
“It was just a thought I had,” Turner said. “We saw an opportunity … to offer access to virtual learning.”
He is the president of the Texana Community Club, which has internet access kids could use when not in the school building. Turner said he didn’t want to see kids fall behind because of a lack of online access at home.
The Texana Community Center is open from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Friday for all students to either stop in and download or upload what they need to, or spend the day working. The center has about five volunteers daily, all who either have volunteered or worked in the schools.
So far, they’ve had about 8-10 students each day, but had 19 kids spread out in the building on Sept. 16. They follow the same guidelines as the schools, including wearing masks.
“Basically, we’re just trying to make it as close to the classroom environment as we can,” Turner said.
Turner was not the only person with a similar idea. Murphy First United Methodist Church and Valleytown Baptist Church have opened their buildings to help local students. Both churches are also following guidelines to protect students and volunteers.
Valleytown Baptist is hosting a tutoring program called Valleytown Vision from 6-6:45 p.m. every Tuesday and Thursday. The program’s lead teacher, Emily Malin of Andrews, said they help elementary through high school students with whatever needs they have in learning.
“We realized there was a lot of need in the community of kids falling behind,” Malin said.
The volunteers in the program are trained educators, who have also gone through training on the programs Cherokee County Schools students are using for classwork. If a child has special needs, they are trained to help with those needs, too.
As a parent herself, Malin said she understands that sometimes parents need a break from helping their own kids with schoolwork, too.
At first, the program was only offered to the local congregation and had nine kids. Today, they are offering it to anyone across the community.
They have space for about 30 kids in the fellowship hall, but can expand to other spaces in the church building if the need is there. Malin added anyone can use the church’s wifi from the parking lot throughout the week.
Murphy First United Methodist’s program, Sanctuary for Learning, is available for high school students on Wednesdays. The Rev. Wil Posey said it was adapted from idea started by a church in Ohio, and they worked with Murphy High School to fit the plan to local needs.
“Space, internet and caring adults are gifts the church has to share. … For me, it feels like something we can do, a way for us to love our neighbors in the name of Jesus and in a very practical way,” Posey said. “I’m grateful to the volunteers who are actually making it happen.”
Anita Sloan is the program’s head volunteer. She said the program hasn’t had many students take advantage of it yet, and she’d like to help more.
“It’s exciting we can offer this opportunity for students,” Sloan said.