Future Teachers Learn Through Giving
Rider’s Student Education Association (SEA) captured the spirit of the season, brightening the lives of a recent Rider graduate and her students just in time for the holidays. More than 75 volunteers from the School of Education recently collected approximately $1,000 worth of school supplies to donate to Lynnette Dortrait’s class at Liberty Academy Charter School in Jersey City, N.J.
At the beginning of the school year, Dortrait’s students usually have everything that they need, but as the school year progresses, their supplies start to dwindle. The school does its best to provide additional resources, but Dortrait often has to pay for supplies out of her own pocket.
“A lot of the children come from very poor neighborhoods,” she explained.
For help, Dortrait, who earned dual degrees in Elementary Education and Communication in 2005, turned to her alma mater. She sent Dr. Sharon McKool, SEA co-adviser, a link to a Web site where people can make donations to her classroom. McKool forwarded the e-mail along to Laura Meyers, SEA community service chair. In the season’s spirit of giving, SEA members and education majors jumped into action and organized a school supply drive.
Meyers said the project was a great way to not only help a teacher, but a Rider alumna. “She was at a point where kids would ask her for a pencil, and she wouldn’t have one,” Meyers said.
Dr. Tracey Garrett, SEA co-adviser, said the student organization tries to hold one or two service projects a year. “Students like doing a holiday service project because of the spirit of giving of the season. We try to involve students and education,” Garrett said. In the past, SEA has helped collect items for Toys for Tots.
McKool said this particular school supply drive sends a strong message to alumni and current students. “The project is a great way to show teachers that our doors are always open,” she said. “It lets our alumni know that Rider can be a continued resource for them.”
On Wednesday, December 10, more than 30 volunteers gathered in the Bart Luedeke Center Pub to make paper snowflakes and wrap the supplies, which included backpacks, pencil boxes, colored pencils and glue. They also wrapped additional gifts for Dortrait, including chalk, borders, electronic thesauri and copies of The Giver, by Lois Lowry.
Although many of the student volunteers have had field experience, they said the project opened their eyes to the realities of the lack of resources in some schools. SEA Publicity Chair Heather Doherty said she was happy to help a teacher who also happened to be a Rider graduate.
“We don’t want teachers to be put in that situation, especially since we will be teachers in the future,” Doherty said. “We’re fortunate to have such a great organization to have the opportunity to help this classroom.”
Later on Wednesday, Doherty and Meyers, along with Education students Andrea McCue and Jessica O’Neil, went to Dortrait’s class to drop off the supplies. As Dortrait went to pick up her students from lunch, the four Rider students got to work, stringing the homemade snowflakes around the room and placing a set of supplies on each of the students’ desk. Then, one by one, the children came into the room to say hello to the guests.
“The look on their faces made it all worthwhile,” Meyers said about the children’s reactions to the supplies. “Things that we may think as simple as colored pencils, tape and scissors, these kids thought it was the nicest thing we could do for them.”
Dortrait said she is extremely grateful for the Rider volunteers’ generosity. “I loved the kids’ reactions. They were so grateful, so happy,” she said. “Their faces were filled with joy. That made my day.”
A past participant in a panel for student teachers at the University, Dortrait said it’s comforting to have that kind of outreach from her alma mater. “It showed me that I can always rely on the people who made a difference to me while I was at Rider. Even after graduation, the relationship continues,” Dortrait added.
