Natalie Hormilla Gordon visited both second-grade classrooms on Friday, September 25, to tell students about Everybody Wins! Vermont, the nonprofit literacy mentorship program with over 20 school sites statewide. Students filled out a survey that helps her get to know them better so that she, as the Barton site coordinator for Everybody Wins! Vermont, can match the kids with mentors from a pool of adult volunteers from the local community.
She asked students to take the weekend to ponder this question with the help of their grown-ups at home: Do I want to spend one lunch/recess hour per week with a mentor in the library reading books together, talking, coloring, and maybe playing games, too? The kids were asked to seriously consider the question so they might officially say yes and get matched with a mentor who would show up for them weekly through early or mid-May.
Literacy mentorship means more reading, more conversation, more perspectives shared, and deeper connection across generations that ultimately lead to kids feeling a greater sense of understanding and belonging in this great big world. Literacy mentors are not tutors but friends who share books, games, and conversations with younger readers.
Natalie will be working hard to recruit qualified, adult volunteer mentors from the community who want to say yes to the privilege of getting to know your children better and being a trusted adult friend who can spend time connecting with them over books and conversation. Hopefully, there will be enough mentors so that every second-grader who wants one can have one, but there is a chance that some kids may have to wait as the site coordinator continues to recruit volunteers who then go through an extensive screening process first.
If you know someone who would make a great mentor, please tell them to reach out to Natalie, at barton@everybodywinsvermont.org