Rollins Students Mentor Kids at Winter Park Community Center

September 24, 2007

Adriana Ospina (Class of 2010) helps a student from the Winter Park Community Center with her homework.

Two years ago, Rollins College teamed up with the City of Winter Park for a class that charged students with creating a project that would benefit the community in some way. The result was a sustainable program that helps kids at the Winter Park Community Center five days of the week.

“We visited the Center and saw a huge need for lower income elementary school children in their after-school program,” said Evyn Garner, program coordinator and Rollins graduate. “Since then, Rollins students, faculty and staff have been able to provide positive educational role models by mentoring kids there.”

Rollins students help kids with their homework, model behavior, promote
self responsibility and more. Under the Rollins student organization “Unity in the Community,” Rollins students also help the Center plan educational and cultural events, as well as field trips throughout the year.

“We want to make sure these kids know they can go to college,” said Garner. "They are our future, and we should all take a proactive role in helping prepare them for that."

Over the past two years, students' school grades have increased by at least half a letter grade. “It means so much to these kids to have someone there to help them,” said Karen Howard, City of Winter Park special programs coordinator. “That long-tern commitment is very important to them.”