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Marketing and University Communication UW-Green Bay, CL 815 2420 Nicolet Drive Green Bay, WI 54311-7001 (920) 465-2626 E-mail: hildebrs@uwgb.edu Last update: 10/3/06 |
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In
the News Archive - Year:
March 5, 2006 UWGB clubs forge links with students Phuture Phoenix bridges gap between teacher, friend By Kelly McBride
Her role lies somewhere between teacher and friend.
Waibel, a University of Wisconsin-Green Bay sophomore, is one of nine student mentors who spend hours each week at four area middle schools with UWGB's Phuture Phoenix clubs.
Her role is to build ties with students, and in turn help them to feel connected to school. Ultimately, Waibel and her peers hope their student buddies will be motivated to go to college.
"I'm having fun. I love this," she said Friday, supervising a roomful of antsy seventh- and eighth-graders. "I just like watching people's personalities. I see little versions of me running around."
It's easy for Waibel, 20, to remember her middle school years, she said. And that helps her relate to the students she's trying to motivate.
The Phuture Phoenix clubs are an extension of UWGB's Phuture Phoenix Day, an event that brings fifth-grade students from low-income schools to campus. The idea is to get them thinking about post-secondary education early , said Phuture Phoenix director Cyndie Shepard. By continuing to mentor students during middle school, the clubs help carry that idea forward, she said.
"They help them with homework, they help them with their class work — sometimes they read to them," Shepard said. "So it's very academically oriented ... It's the relationship, we've found, that keeps kids in school and encourages them to be there."
The first Phuture Phoenix Day was held at UWGB during spring 2003. The most recent Phuture Phoenix Day, held in October 2005, drew more than 850 students from area school districts.
Phuture Phoenix clubs, which are new this school year, include students at Green Bay Washington, Edison and Franklin middle schools, as well as West De Pere Middle School.
Franklin students have been quick to establish connections with their university mentors, said school principal Keith Cauwenbergh. Often, it's easier for the middle schoolers to connect with people closer to their own age.
"I think one of the real strengths is that (Shepard) has tried to select students that were, in fact, former students at our school," Cauwenbergh said. "To the kids, that's pretty important, pretty impressive."
For Washington seventh-graders Jacqueline Stevens and Alicia Hubbard, having someone to confide in is a key part of Waibel's visits.
"Ever since I met Liz, I feel like I can trust her," Hubbard said. "If I have a problem, I can talk to her about it."
Each time she's at Washington — about 12 hours per week — Waibel makes an effort to bring up the topic of college education.
She works in larger and smaller group settings to broach the subject with students who might not be thinking that far ahead.
Eighth-grader Nick Turney has had fun meeting with Waibel, he said. His involvement in the Phuture Phoenix club has helped him think about high school and beyond.
"I'd like to get helpful hints and ideas," he said. "Because when I grow up, I want to be a writer."
Whether it's students like Turney — who wants to write science fiction when he gets older — or those who aren't sure what they want to do, Shepard hopes Phuture Phoenix will help motivate them beyond high school.
And although the program reaches students years before they're making decisions about college, those involved say there's no time like the present to develop the motivation and skills necessary to succeed.
"The students will often say middle school doesn't count," Cauwenbergh said. "If they don't have those (skills) in place, they don't turn on the light when they get to the high school. So they have to develop them here."
About the Phuture Phoenix clubs
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