Another Rewarding Year of Being a Learning Leader

My older son, Matthew, never cried when I dropped him off at school.  Not even nursery school. I was the one who cried. My younger son, Gabriel, cried endlessly at drop-off during his kindergarten year. Luckily there was a kind nanny, Diana, who would volunteer to stay on after drop-off every morning. As I was leaving, I would invariably peek in the window to see if Gabe had stopped crying and he would usually be seated on Diana’s lap. That comforting touch from Diana and a kiss from a little girl named Matilda finally dried (and ended) Gabe’s tears.

After I left my job in 2004, I decided to plunge into volunteering at PS 58, The Carroll School, where my children were students.  I started with helping the PTA and doing lunch duty.   I remember one shy little first grader who had a classmate mess up his lunch so that he couldn’t eat it. I told him to let me know if that happened again. And with those words I made a friend. That same little boy came up to me at the Carroll Gardens library shortly thereafter with a big hello. That one hello was more rewarding to me than 20 years of preparing tax returns for rather wealthy people. I continued to bump into this boy for years, even in middle school, and he always had a big greeting for me.  

Realizing how much I enjoyed being around kids, I decided to train to become a Learning Leader.  Founded in 1956, Learning Leaders, originally known as the NYC School Volunteer Program, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing service to NYC’s public schools. As of this year, the organization has approximately 8,000 volunteers providing help in over 500 schools. Volunteers are usually family members of students enrolled in the school where they volunteer and/or community members. The Learning Leaders at PS 58 include parents and grandparents of students, community volunteers and alumni parents, like me. 

In my first year as a Learning Leader, I helped some 3rd graders with reading fluency and at the end of the year, one boy gave me a heartfelt, handmade card that got me all choked up.  I hung the card on my fridge along with my own kids’ work.  This boy is now going into his senior year of high school and whenever I see him on the baseball field or in the neighborhood, I get a hug.

When Gabe graduated from PS 58 in 2008, I wasn’t ready to leave just yet so I continued on as a Learning Leader. Over the years, I’ve helped students in grades K through 5 with various things including assisting a 5th grader preparing for standardized testing, 1st graders working to improve their reading levels, and 2nd, 3rd and 4th graders who needed some extra help in reading, writing and math. And I’ve even comforted some kindergartners just like Diana did for Gabe all those years ago. This year I hit the jackpot with Ms. May and Ms. Josephine’s kindergarten class.     K-113, aka the Goldfish, is a class full of 22 smart, talented, determined, joyful, helpful, creative, friendly, and just plain adorable children. There is something memorable about each and every one of them. My Tuesday mornings with them got me through a particularly hard few months so I’m fairly certain these sweet kindergartners helped me more than I helped them.

Last Friday, years after my sons had graduated from PS 58, I sat through yet another graduation in the somewhat warm auditorium. It was the Stepping Up to 1st Grade ceremony for K-113 along with three other kindergarten classes.  As they sang James Taylor’s Shower the People and Elton John’s Your Song, accompanied by the wonderful Mr. C, (Stephen Cedermark, the lower grade music teacher), I reached into my bag for a tissue. I cry at every graduation I attend. I zeroed in on each little face singing earnestly to their families in the audience. Another June graduation, another year drawing to a close. And when September rolls around I will be looking forward to meeting and helping out another great group of kids.

On the Today Show yesterday, there was a story that reported volunteerism can add years to your life! So there’s yet another good reason to volunteer. If you would like to volunteer as a Learning Leader, you can find all the information you need at http://learningleaders.org.  Also, you can contact Joan Bredthauer, Parent Coordinator at PS 58, at Jbredthauer2@schools.nyc.gov.  I can tell you that what you give as a Learning Leader will be repaid to you a hundredfold in the rewarding experiences of working with such amazing children.