Kindergarten students starting school in September will participate in a new program designed to support them with long-term connections.
Powell River Compassionate Action Network (PRCAN) organizer and Powell River Board of Education chair Jeanette Scott said the idea came up when she was doing exit interviews for graduating students last year.
“I realized that the stories I was hearing might have been different had there been this kind of support for their 13 years in the system,” Scott said. “The challenges to children and their parents are such that many young people fail to develop healthy lifestyles and to realize their potential for making positive contributions to the larger community.”
After that experience she brought the idea forward to the board and School District 47 superintendent of schools, Jay Yule.
The program is designed to allow the companions to offer support, encouragement and wisdom. Scott said she expects the support to take different forms throughout the years, but might be as simple as having the companion come in to read stories to the class, doing classroom activities with the students and watching them while they play at recess or lunch.
This past spring the idea was approved by school administrators and teachers and PRCAN began looking for volunteers for September.
“It’s going fairly well, but we haven’t had as many volunteers as we hoped,” said Scott. “There are some spots we hoped to fill.”
Eight kindergarten classes are planned throughout district elementary schools in September. The program aims to have one or two compassionate companions with each class. The idea of building personal connections for each student is similar in spirit to the school district’s Roots of Empathy program where a parent and baby make routine classroom visits throughout the school year.
For the pilot year, “we’ll do the best we can with what we have,” said Scott. “It’ll depend on the numbers of students in the class. The hope is that these individuals will maintain connections with the students through their 13 years in public school classrooms.”
Members of PRCAN recruited volunteers by asking friends and family they thought would be interested and available.
Scott said the group is currently working on guidelines for the companions.
“In some communities organizations like Big Brothers and Big Sisters are able to provide support and encouragement to vulnerable youth,” she added. “In Powell River, due to demographics, those who volunteer would be more like surrogate grandparents, than brothers or sisters.”
For more information about the program or to volunteer to participate, readers can contact Scott at jeanette.scott@sd47.bc.ca.
