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Cover Story “ At hallway tables inside Washington Elementary School in North Platte, Neb. (pop. 23,878), volunteer Amanda Epley, 28. helps sec ond-grader Cassy Easley with spelling words while Milo Shavlik. 81, cuts and glues a food pyramid with Kyle Jensen, 8. Nearby, volunteer Anna Parks bundles box tops and soup-can labels to redeem for school supplies and equipment About a dozen volunteers show up at the sch<x>l each day to help wherever they are needed: tutoring students, setting up science experiments, combing down cowlicks for schixil pictures and bagging pop corn for class celebrations. While some of the work of the parents, grand parents and other adult volunteers involves physical labor—such as applying a fresh coat of paint to the teachers' lounge—their most important gift is guiding and encouraging individual students who are strug gling with reading, writing and arithmetic. Research shows a direct link between parental involvement and a student’s success in school. “Family structures and lifestyles are dif ferent today,” National PTA President Anna Weselak says, “but the significant adult in the child’s life should be involved at school.” Weselak suggests that even the busiest parent can find three or four hours a year to get involved in his child’s school activities, in addition to being involved in education at home by reading to his child and checking his homework. To get involved, contact your local school district or parent-teacher organization. Visit www.ptacentral.org for more information. v \ 7 m A ™ ■ JLn 40$M .. J/k /^S| wessons hi MAR I I AT lOPiN, (. out ribiit/ng Editor I iff" 1 ™ WflirjjW A # lTr*ii m, »BEBglffl t— * 'lMSifflPil ■!««•*> ' iHMwe—^ 6R Mai*% .*An - -flUtßwaiH 5Ep SflSpf 4 ? j r ■ y«sjjjsßßß[ i ** ■Tj r -h. - | Bi SL JR CBHHP. .rfemak 9 B jijHl c IH L II PWar**^.Me Volunteer tutors help students with their studies at Washington Elementary School in North Platte, Neb. For students like Cassy, the extra attention and tutoring makes a world of difference. “Her vocabulary has improved and her reading level has gone up," says second-grade teacher Julie Kin naman. “She has a feeling of pride because she can see the volunteer’s pride." Shae Aston, 34. a single mother of one, says everyone benefits when parents and grandparents devote a couple of hours each week to school. The volunteers help students with their studies and busy teachers with their classrooms while demonstrating to their own children and grandchildren a valuable lesson: School is important. Kids aim to please, says Aston, president of the North Platte PTA Council. “They see their par ents there and it makes a difference. When my son Tanner knows I'm at school, he swells with pride." The oldest volunteer on campus, Zada Price. 87, walks three blocks to Washington Elementary each iolonteers are a sy ingredient to icce^i^cliodl n m t 14 mi / j* / tin morning, as dependable as the school bell, to share her lifelong love of teaching. 1 got a little desk when I was 6, and teaching is all I ever wanted to do, says the former schoolteacher. Price says the only drawback to being a volunteer tutor is when students no longer need her help. “As soon as my kids improve. I don't get to work with them anymore." A blooming success Across America, in elementary schools through high schools, parents and grandparents man book fairs and school carnivals, chaperone band trips to parades, staff concession stands at ballgames and stitch costumes for plays. They plant tulips and tomatoes in Loveland, Ohio, built a covered walkway in Lutz, Fla., and raised $25,000 for a new playground at a country school near Orland, Calif. Page 10 •American Profile Photo: