Prairie View Middle School student Virdesha Hillie, and her Schools of Hope tutor, Kathy Radford, were recognized for their work over the last two years on Feb. 26 at the United Way annual meeting and recognition ceremony.
Two years ago, both Virdesha and Radford moved to Sun Prairie from very different communities-Virdesha from Mississippi and Radford from Minneapolis.
Radford had done a lot of volunteer work previously, but "this was an unfilled mission of mine to do reading tutoring, so I was looking for an opportunity," she said.
She completed literacy training through the Madison Literacy Network, hoping to be connected with an adult learner, and in the interim read about Schools of Hope in Sun Prairie. She submitted her volunteer application at the Sun Prairie Area School District office, and went to the Schools of Hope training.
"A little while passed before Virdesha and I were connected," Radford said. "I think she was only in Wisconsin a few weeks before I got a phone call asking if I could help her."
They have spent the past two years working on reading skills and what was once a challenge for Virdesha has now become an every day activity, for both class and fun.
"I like to play basketball and my grades are all As and one B. I like all my teachers, and I like math and reading," Virdesha said. "I like being involved with the community, and I like communicating with people."
Not only does Virdesha like basketball, but she is a star player scoring 21 out of 29 points at a recent game.
"I think Virdesha has made some really great progress," Radford said. "She certainly has had some challenges. A lot of what we worked on were the phonics and basic reading foundation, but in terms of her comprehension and her vocabulary I think we've seen a great deal of success."
Radford has been meeting with Virdesha twice a week for two years and uses a variety of approaches.
"We played scrabble today. I think she beat me," Radford said. "And we're reading the book 'Because of Winn Dixie.' We're reading that just for fun, and that's been a really enjoyable break in our studies."
Radford will continue to tutor both students in the Sun Prairie schools, but has also reconnected with the Literacy Network to find an adult to tutor.
Her desire to help others develop the necessary literacy skills stems growing up in an culturally diverse area and watching her grandmother teach English at the high school level.
"My grandmother was a high school English teacher and librarian in Bayfield. But it's a community of extreme poverty and a very culturally blended community with a significant American Indian population," Radford said. "My grandmother was so passionate about reading and literature that she took a whole generation of students into places that they have never been."
Radford's motivation really comes from one story about her grandmother in particular, volunteering time after school to teach one of her students who was dyslexic to read.
"This woman is now retired, and she said for many years, she volunteered to teach students to read. So that gift that my grandmother gave her, she gave back. And that was kind of my motivation," Radford said.
The hard work of both Radford and Virdesha has played a huge role in the success of Schools of Hope in Sun Prairie.
"We're three years into Sun Prairie, and we've seen really very encouraging results. The results show a reduction in the achievement gap along racial and socio-economic boundaries," said Tom Kuplic, director of communications and community engagement for United Way.
"We're always looking at the next place we can go. We have Project Reach going on in the summer with the Urban League. As of right now, we're really looking at expanding all tutoring we have in Sun Prairie to all the elementary schools and the different middle schools," Kuplic said. "It's always dependent on resources. We've got a great partner in Tim Culver and the Sun Prairie Area School District. We've got great partners with the Urban League in Sun Prairie, and companies like General Casualty making wonderful accommodations for their employees to be tutors. For us that's a great recipe."
Schools of Hope began in Madison, and three years ago, "we were contacted by Sun Prairie and asked if we could come out there and do Schools of Hope because they recognized there was an achievement gap, both for students of color and for low-income students," said Kathy Hubbard, community impact director over the Schools of Hope since 1995.
The focus of Schools of Hope is eliminating the achievement gap between both low income and children from different backgrounds, which is accomplished by bringing in volunteers and training them on the curriculum in the school district, and having them work with teachers.
"Sun Prairie really did this right. I just love working with Sun Prairie," Hubbard said. "They embraced this right away. The district made sure they heard from the teachers what their concerns would be so they could answer questions and get over any hurdles that they have. When our tutors tutor, it needs to be one on one or one on two for eight weeks at a minimum. Sun Prairie is faithful to that model, which is wonderful."
After Schools of Hope was in Sun Prairie for one year at the elementary level, it was expanded to include both middle schools.
With the opening of Creekside Elementary, the program expanded again, covering three elementaries, Westside, C.H. Bird, and Creekside, and both middle schools.
Though the district and United Way are hoping to continue to expand the program and are excited to see the program grow in Sun Prairie, "we really want to make sure we're in the elementaries that have the population that we really need to work with," Hubbard said.
