Harpur students work with local youth

Jenna Brady enjoys engaging with youth because she believes the experience can positively affect both the mentor and mentee.

“It’s a fun experience, but also a learning experience,” Brady says. “To sit there and connect with these people so much younger than you, opens your eyes to different things.”

Brady, who worked with the on-campus club Juvenile Urban Multicultural Program (J.U.M.P.) Nation, is one of many Harpur College students who choose to work with youth in the greater Binghamton community.

J.U.M.P. Nation, holds J.U.M.P. Weekend, a four-day event that hosts about 100 eighth-grade students from six New York City schools and two schools in the greater Binghamton area. All expenses are covered by J.U.M.P. through Student Association funds and fundraising.

“They’re typically at-risk students that don’t necessarily have exposure to institutions such as colleges,” says Christian Vega, the organization’s vice president and a senior double-majoring in political science and Spanish.

Each student, referred to as a protégé, is assigned a host and mentor. The host provides on-campus housing while mentors can be off-campus students that attend events with their protégé.

Brady, now a junior who is double-majoring in psychology and cinema, was a host her freshman year. After learning about the program, Brady applied and was brought in for an interview.

“They wanted to know that you were going to be someone who was a good role model for the [protégé],” Brady says. “They want you to be able to show them a good time, but also a different life and what they need to know that they can look forward to.”

While protégés engage in activities like roller-skating, the goal of the weekend is to show these students that college is an option for them. To further this experience, J.U.M.P. has a five-year commitment plan.

“From the moment a protégé completes the program, all the way up until they’re applying to college, we have an expectation that both the mentor and the host are assisting them with college applications and the whole admissions process,” Vega says.

Younger children can also get involved with University students through SUNY Kids. The Binghamton University program provides underprivileged children ages 5 to 13 the opportunity to spend their Saturday afternoons letting loose.

SUNY Kids President Kaitlin Rottkamp, a senior who is double-majoring in psychology and human development, works with the Broome County Department of Social Services to find children in need of a fun-filled day. There are nine field trips each semester, supervised by Rottkamp and the other volunteers.

“When we took a trip to the Roberson Museum, one of the kids kept asking questions,” Rottkamp says. “He kept thanking me for helping him learn, and little things like that make you feel good.”

Although the program takes up a large chunk of the volunteer students’ Saturday, Rottkamp says it is worthwhile.

“We’re doing this for the kids, not for us,” Rottkamp says. “The most important thing to me is that they’re having fun.”

While those involved in SUNY Kids work with children on the weekend, SA-chartered club BU Science allows University students to do their part by fostering a non-traditional learning environment in schools.

University students teach at Charles F. Johnson Elementary and Johnson City Intermediate School. Club President Jennifer DiBernardo, a senior who is double- majoring in biology and studio art, says the change of pace is beneficial to young students.

“It gives them a different perspective to learn from college students, people who they look up to. It gets them excited about what they’re learning,” DiBernardo says.

Members of the organization are given weekly lesson plans that align with the children’s class material. Breanna Tahany, a sophomore majoring in biology, is teaching a class of second-graders about the study of rocks.

“I always teach with a lot of energy,” Tahany says. “I bring my enthusiasm towards biology and bring it into my lesson.”

Danielle Lieberman, the club’s vice president and a junior majoring in integrative neuroscience, enjoys getting the next generation excited about science.

“The sciences, which they see as hard and difficult or boring, they get to enjoy,” Lieberman says. “If they can start enjoying it at this young age, imagine what they could do later on.”

Selected students are also able to work in schools by taking Laboratory in Child Behavior, a four-credit psychology course offered at the Institute of Child Development (ICD), a preschool located on campus.

This course allows students to work with children with developmental and learning disorders. To produce long-lasting results, the program teaches the importance of creating individualized plans and goals for each student. Micah Bardell, a junior majoring in integrative neuroscience, is a student trainee at the ICD.

“I am assigned to a child and am responsible for studying the lessons, which we call learning goals, that she needs to learn. Then I help teach them to her,” Bardell says. “I also take data on her learning.”

Ariel Arzt, a junior majoring in psychology and a trainee at the ICD, says the program’s goal is to teach students the skills they need to be integrated into a standard education setting.

“It’s the biggest deal when these children are ready to go back to school,” Arzt says. “They learn how to make eye-contact, behave properly in class, and when they’re ready, they graduate. We throw parties for them to celebrate their accomplishments.”

University students involved in the Johnson City (JC) Mentor Program work with middle school students, dealing with issues from low self-esteem to developmental challenges.

“Three days a week I go to Johnson City Middle School to mentor a girl named Gerri,” says Gabrielle Pasiak, a junior majoring in biology who is a JC mentor this semester. “I sit in some of her classes and help her with whatever I can.”

The program works to match college students with middle school students to provide the latter with encouragement, positivity and friendship.

“The most surprising part of the experience has been how confident I have become,” Pasiak says. “I have kids coming up to me and asking if I will be in a certain class because they have so much fun when I’m there. It’s reassuring to hear that I’m doing well in their eyes.”

The time that Pasiak has spent as a JC mentor has taught her much about the youth of today and she is glad she took a chance with the program.

“When I have a bad day, it isn’t as bad as her bad day,” Pasiak says. “I feel like it is so much harder for kids to deal with bad days. They see the world so differently, and they are a lot more sensitive than we are at our age. That is why when I’m with my mentee, I try to bring as much positivity and fun into it as I can.”