While the Syracuse community and Syracuse University develop solutions for the city's low graduation rates, SU's student body is doing its part to make a difference, too.
Dozens of student-driven groups are solely devoted to interaction with Syracuse students, and dozens more get involved at least once a year.
One of the largest student initiatives for this cause is the Literacy Corps, with about 200 trained student-tutors. The SU students go to local elementary and middle schools to help teachers during the school day for a minimum of nine hours per week.
"The tutors are there while teachers are actually teaching," said Chris Cummings, a Literacy Corps tutor and junior computer sciences and information technology major. "That way, tutors get to see how teachers are teaching the material and see whether it's working for the students or not."
The tutors help develop reading and writing skills of younger children, often through one-on-one interaction if the child is struggling. Tutors teach other subjects for older students.
"I've seen improvements over the semester for many kids," Cummings said, telling the story of a particular girl who didn't have much confidence in herself early in the semester, and is now excited about learning.
No studies have been conducted to gauge the students' long-term academic improvement, but the premise of the program is for the SU student to see a one-on-one change with each individual student.
The SU Literacy Corps began in 1997 and is housed in the Mary Ann Shaw Center for Public and Community Service.
CPCS also sponsors the Comstock Kidfest, a student organization fair held every year in Manley Field House. Local students are invited to the fair so that they can be exposed to the various experiences college life could someday offer them.
"It's like a mini-carnival," said NamHee Chung, a senior television, radio and film and entrepreneurship and emerging enterprises major. Chung is also the president of Kappa Phi Lambda, an Asian-American sorority that participates in Comstock Kidfest every year.
Kappa Phi Lambda also participated in SU's first Empowering Minds Movement Conference on March 31. The conference invited Syracuse high school students to the SU campus for a day of motivational speeches and SU student-led workshops covering issues of discrimination, gender roles, education and leadership.
The conference was led by Travis Mason, former Student Association president, and Vincent Cobb II, a sophomore political philosophy, psychology and policy studies major. Mason and Cobb planned the conference with about 20 other SU students during the past year.
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