College of Communication promotes education through volunteer program

Imagine living in Chicago your entire life and never stepping foot in one of the city's downtown high-rises.

This is a reality for some students at Ruggles Elementary, located on the city's South Side. Their first time seeing downtown views from high up in a skyscraper occurred when they came to the 18th floor of 14 E. Jackson to participate in the Working in the Schools (WITS) program, which started a partnership with the College of Communication this quarter.

WITS is a 501(c)3 organization that promotes literacy and the love of reading to Chicago's youth by providing one-on-one tutoring. In 1991, founders Joanne Alter and Marion Stone started the program at Bird Elementary, located in the Cabrini Green housing projects.

The College of Communication's involvement with WITS started after Associate Dean Don Martin met two board members of WITS at a dinner. Martin thought the program was a great fit with DePaul's Vincentian values. During the fall quarter, Martin solicited the help of Professor Sean Horan to handle daily logistics and coordinate volunteers for the pilot program.

"WITS is so close to our mission, when you think about what St. Vincent DePaul did … It's education and outreach," Horan said. "And so I just can't think of a more Vincentian thing we can do. Also we are communication people so to model communication, it just makes sense."

The majority of volunteers are students in the College of Communication, but faculty and staff, including Martin, also volunteer as tutors. Horan gathered volunteers through staff recommendations, Lambda Pi Eta Honor Society and an introduction to communication course. Two tutors are paired with one student to make sure that student will always have a tutor when they come to DePaul. Tutors and their students meet every Thursday from 3 p.m. – 4 p.m.

"They love it. They hang out after the students leave and all talk about it and the college students love it," Horan said. And it's really cool to see my college students interacting with younger students. Even the faculty has been talking about it. The faculty and staff who have been doing it love it."

Although the WITS partnership with the college is in the beginning stage, Lamba Pi Eta Director of Philanthropy Debra Lipson and Event Coordinator Gina Marroquin both said they decided to volunteer for the program because it sounded like an excellent opportunity to connect with students and make a visible difference in their lives.

Marroquin explained that volunteers are required to read a book of the students' choosing at or above their reading level for the first 25 minutes. Following that, the students have the option to continue reading or ask for homework help. Currently Marroquin and her student, 9-year-old Timyah Northington, have focused on reading, she said.

"I was excited about DePaul partnering with WITS and committing myself to this service project. When it became a reality, I was beyond elated I could not have imagined a more rewarding experience," Marroquin said.

Marroquin said while working with Timyah, the 9-year-old's critical thinking skills and overall enthusiasm during their conversations leaves Marroquin speechless.

"While reading The Sisters Grimm, she stopped at the end of almost every page to talk about the development of the characters and their relationships, the plot and other developing ideas in the story. She blew me away with her critiquing of concepts that the average child would never think of questioning," she said.

Lipson said the best part of WITS is the instant gratification one gets from volunteering.

"You can see the difference you are making in the child's life," she said. "The environment reiterates learning is fun and encourages the kids to be curious and challenge themselves academically."

DePaul University and Northwestern Law School are the only universities who have partnered with WITS, according to WITS Program Director Kristen Eldson. Eldson said about ten years into the program WITS began to engage the corporate community and expanded partnerships with corporations and other volunteers.

WITS gets a majority of their volunteers from corporations. The program currently works with 36 corporations including Chicago Board Options Exchange, UBS, Joans Days, Deloitte, Aon, Bank of America, Harris Bank and Morgan Stanley. This year WITS is serving almost 2,600 students in 24 schools with almost 1,600 volunteers, Eldson said.

"We engage both community, corporate and government volunteers is kind of how we frame it," Eldson said.

Horan is very pleased with the program so far and hopes it spreads to other departments and colleges at DePaul.

"I would like to see this grow—I think the sky's the limit," Horan said.

"I am reminded of how incredibly fortunate I am (to be) taking part in WITS every time I see Timyah's face light up along with that contagious smile of hers," Marroquin said.