Frontier College
Frontier college is a Canadian national literacy organization. Their focus is on providing free literacy support to students and adults within Canada who can not afford privatized aid. There are many programs within the organization that vary depending on the city. To learn more go to the Frontier College Website.
My involvement with Frontier college ranges from a volunteer to a part time employee. The value I have seen, that Frontier College contributes to the community, comes in 2 forms. 1. Increased access to education 2. Building a love for learning The basis of Frontier College values stems from the belief that everyone has a right to education. Accompanying this, is the knowledge that not everyone has resources to access appropriate educational support. Volunteers going into the community each week improves access that many students need. The love of learning that Frontier College encourages in its programs is something unique and special that I've observed. For context, I have experience teaching children and youth aged 2 to 18 in a wide range of subjects, in formal and informal education settings. I have commonly seen them struggle to find value in their learning and disengage themselves from the subject material. Alternatively, I have seen students flourish and have their passion for learning increase with the more knowledge they gain. Both of these results stem from their education environment. The environment I have observed at Frontier College in their programs is one of openness and encouragement. Tutors have offered learners support that has helped students love coming to program and not want to leave. My own personal experience has been working at the Somalian Canadian Association of Waterloo Region (SCAWR) Newcomer homework program. This program is a homework help program, but I have seen some students show up even when they don’t have homework just to open themselves up to learning more! In comparison to many learning environments I have been involved with, this is incredible. Therefore, I think it’s important that we all open ourselves up to finding a passion for learning, like so many volunteers have, so this passion can become contagious and uplift those learning around us!
Additionally, my responsibilities as a part time employee include:
Lead seven team members in recruitment and program planning
Management and data tracking of six tutoring programs in the community
Maintenance of volunteer database to track and manage member involvement
Coordination duties for recruitment events including advertisement, internal scheduling, and supervision
Created presentations and conducted training sessions
Improved organization presence within the Waterloo Region by writing blog and Facebook posts