Jumpstart recruiting college students to work with preschoolers
Contact: Tonya Lowentritt
9/12/07
HAMMOND -- Southeastern Louisiana University’s Jumpstart program is recruiting 40 Southeastern students to work with area three- to five-year-old children on preschool readiness.
Through the national non-profit program, students can earn a $1,000 AmeriCorps education award by working one-on-one for a minimum of 11 hours per week with preschoolers at Southeastern and Hammond Head Start programs.
To prepare preschoolers to succeed in school, Jumpstart Corps members read stories, sing songs and play games that support young children's school readiness, said site manager Shawanda Benton.
Education awards are dispersed at the end of the term of service, but Benton said students who qualify for federal work-study can also earn up to $6.30 an hour while working in the program.
College students may apply to Jumpstart online at www.jumpstart.org, or contact Benton at (985) 549-5158 or Shawanda.Benton@selu.edu for additional information.
Benton said Hammond Jumpstart is again participating in “Read for the Record,” a national Jumpstart campaign to engage tens of thousands of adults and children in the largest ever shared reading experience.
“Last year’s event yielded more than 150,000 people who read ‘The Little Engine That Could' in a single day,” Benton said. “This year Jumpstart Hammond encourages readers to sign up at www.readfortherecord.org to help set another record by joining in the nation-wide read on Sept. 20 either individually or at public readings. The campaign’s official book is ‘The Story of Ferdinand.’”
For more information about Read for the Record or Jumpstart Hammond, contact Benton at (985) 549-5158. For information about Read for the Record events in Livingston Parish, contact the Livingston Literacy and Technology Center at (225) 665-3303.
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