Servicemembers volunteer for Saturday Scholars

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Sinead Fockler
  • 313th Training Squadron
CORRY STATION, Fla. --  What is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word weekend? For most elementary school students, this is the time to play video games and sports with friends and family, or sleep in late. It's their time outside of school to enjoy being a kid, forget about school, math, reading and teachers.

During the month of January, 20 members of the 313th Training Squadron had the privilege of meeting a group of students who chose to spend their weekend doing something a little different. They got up early Saturday morning, grabbed their backpacks and headed to Mont Claire Elementary School, Fla., where they volunteered to study and learn for eight hours of their day.

They were eager to get to the school so that they could better themselves and spend time with their military mentors. This is what Saturday Scholars is all about. Servicemembers from all military branches gave four hours of their time each Saturday over five weeks, to help students in third through fifth grade improve in various school subjects.

The students went from giving shy introductions to making friends. They learned valuable lessons from the program, which gave them a chance to have someone to talk to, a big brother or sister figure they could trust and someone they could feel free to ask for help or advice from.
This program which has now had 50 consecutive sessions, not only taught the 8 to 12-year-old children, but the men and women who volunteered to be mentors. The mentors learned the power of motivation as well as how much impact one person can have. Some learned how to act around children, while others learned how to have fun and be a kid again. The most important thing that they took from the experience was how the littlest things, such as spending time with a student in need, can change lives.

The elementary school students involved in this program will take what they learned and apply it throughout the rest of their lives. I feel blessed that a child chose to spend their Saturday with me when they could have been with their friends having fun. That alone drove me to try my best to help them improve their education so that one day they can become the doctors, astronauts and teachers that many of them strive to be.