The Edward Stevens Literacy Center, nestled comfortably in the halls of Patton College of Education, is made up of several offices and rooms perfectly designed to balance Patton’s educational goals and real-world experience. In room 218K, the center’s literacy ambassadors inspire through their work with the Green Project Club.
The club, an educational after-school program hosted in the Literacy Center, aims to teach kids from as young as 6 years old to as old as 12 years old how to understand modern environmental issues. It met six times this fall, starting in October and ending with the last meeting Wednesday. It costs $50 per student to enroll in the club.
According to Julie Barnhart Francis, the Stevens Literacy Center director, a staff of 15 literacy ambassadors works through the center, along with interns in Patton’s Family and Consumer Science program, a PACE student and volunteers, all of whom make the club possible.
Their work is also made possible by funding that dates back to the ‘90s, Barnhart Francis said.
“We might be the only department on the campus that uses America Reads funds that go back to President Clinton's era, when the federal government set aside some funds for federal work-study,” Barnhart Francis said. “We have a wonderful group of candidates and students that support the work we do.”
Lilly Newton, a junior studying middle childhood education, said being a literacy ambassador is an opportunity all students enrolled in Patton are aware of, and students can make important connections through the role.
“Everyone kind of knows that in Patton there is Stevens Literacy Center, but I don't think a lot of people know that it's such a big resource,” Newton said. “I found it through my friend and then I found it to be a bigger community that I love being a part of.”
As a student with a focus on math and science, Newton comes up with the lesson plan for each Green Project Club meeting.
"Basically, we start out the club with a little snack as they're all just kind of coming in, and then we go and read a book,” Newton said. “It's usually about climate, or about the Earth; in some way it will connect to the lesson. And then we come in here, and we usually do, like an art project, and then we do a science experiment, or something STEM related.”
Newton’s lesson plans are cohesive and tie several aspects of one topic into a single lesson.
“I usually just come up with a theme for the week, whatever comes into my mind,” Newton said. “And then I usually will pick the book next, and then off of that I'll go and I'll look on Pinterest, or just anywhere online to find ideas, and then I bring them all together and connect them all to each other.”
Molly Norman, a junior studying integrated language arts, said despite problems like climate change and deforestation being potentially dread-inducing topics, the literacy ambassadors present them to students in the club in educational ways that don’t diminish their importance.
“We have these big concepts laid out; we don't sugar coat anything,” Norman said. "We just make it more approachable for a 5-year-old to understand. Cutting out a sponge and putting quote-unquote ‘poop’ on it, and showing them, like pollution. They're still getting the idea of, ‘Oh, things go into our rivers and it hurts the fishes.’”
Bridget Yaniga, a freshman studying early childhood education, said kids’ reactions after each lesson highlight their interest in the topics. After reading a book called “Our Green Earth,” she said each kid in attendance was curious about the earth.
“(The book) was about how the earth and global warming and how we have to protect our Earth because, as Earthlings, that's our home base, and the kids really read in between the lines,” Yaniga said. “We should have wrote down their questions, they were so into it. I think there were 25 pages in the book. I think we had 15 questions from each kid, I swear.”
Because the club serves such a wide range of ages, the ambassadors have to adapt to different children’s needs.
“The 5-year-olds kind of need some more help, especially when we do writing things,” Newton said. “They had to write about why they love the Earth. So they kind of need help spelling words and writing things down. (We) help them with that, and then cutting things out, sometimes they need help with, yeah, things like that.”
For the ambassadors who lead the classes, there are numerous professional benefits to helping with the club. However, Emma Surgent, a freshman studying pre-early childhood education, said the benefits go beyond professional.
“It brings such an overwhelming joy,” Surgent said. “In my personal life too, because I leave with the biggest smile on my face, and I learned so much from the kids and from all of my other wonderful literacy ambassadors that I work with.”
Additionally, the setting of the Green Project Club, which is more intimate than a typical classroom, allows ambassadors to interact more personally with each other and with kids.
“I learned so much from just listening in on other people's interactions,” Surgent said. “Because kids are so sassy, I get to keep their responses in the back of my mind. And it's like I have a little part of all of the other people that I work with and me and in my brain.”
The club has taught the kids in attendance about climate things, but it has also taught the ambassadors who lead it many impactful lessons.
“You're 18, and (people ask) ‘What do you want to do for the rest of your life?’” Yaniga said. “I think just working with everyone who also are education based majors, I made the right decision. It made me have more confidence that I'm supposed to work with kids. I know this is what I'm meant to do.”
Despite learning often being perceived as boring, Newton said kids enjoy the meetings and learning about the environment.
“We're only here for an hour,” Newton said. “So it is focused; it's very individualized. We're here to make sure your kid is having fun, while also getting a good perspective of the world; there's a lot there. After, they're like, ‘Oh my god, an hour's already done.’ They're having so much fun. They want to actually learn, which I think is really great.”
