Jumpstart for Young Children

During my fours years at Simmons College I was a Corpsmember with Jumpstart for Young Children at the Colleges of the Fenway. Jumpstart is an AmeriCorps organization that pairs college-age students in a one-on-one collaborative relationship with a preschool child that needs the extra help to succeed in school. Their curriculum is developed to allow each child complete control over their activities in the Jumpstart classroom and are engaged in meaningful conversations with an adult to help them expand their language and literacy skills. The Jumpstart curriculum creates an active learning environment where children and are given the freedom to develop their own learning.

My first year as a Corpsmember I worked one-on-one with a four year old child at the ABCD Jamaica Plain Head Start. My partner child and I went on expeditions around the classroom chasing monsters and going on treasure hunts with other children in the classroom. We documented our experiences in our journals and personal storybooks that I put together in a portfolio that I then gave to her at the end of the school year at our Jumpstart graduation ceremony. We spent over 300 hours together in a creative learning environment that taught both of us valuable life skills.

The joy of my first year working with my partner child led me to become the Volunteer Coordinator for the Jumpstart program for the next three years. As a Volunteer Coordinator I was able to collaborate with outside arts organization and community members to give the children and the preschool more opportunities to learn through open-ended activities and conversations. The following slideshow depicts some of our events including my work with the Boston University Children's Theatre, the Scott/Ross Center for Community Service and other outside volunteer organizations.