News release from the Fort Wayne Community Schools:
Study Connection Kicks Off 26th Year
(September 10, 2014) – Study Connection celebrated its 26th year of helping students with the Annual Celebration and Recognition Breakfast on Friday, Sept. 12. The event honored volunteers and students for their accomplishments and featured keynote speaker Aaron Brown, co-founder of Impact 52, a family service project created to make a difference in the community while inspiring others to take action in their communities.
The 2014 Tutor of the Year is Virginia Zimmerman from Lincoln Financial, who has been a volunteer since 1998. She has tutored three girls from the same family with much success, and this year, not only is she volunteering on two days a week at Lincoln, she is picking up a third day at Plymouth Congregational Church. Study Connection is also honoring Daelyn Weeks as the 2014 Student of the Year for his hard work and continued improvement, particularly in math and in appreciating the value of a good education. Daelyn started in the program as a third-grader at Price Elementary and was tutored at Sirva. He is now a sixth-grader at Portage Middle School.
Brown, a Fort Wayne resident, is also a community advocate, inspirational speaker, author and volunteer who is on a mission to start an epidemic of giving that spreads from community to community infecting everyone it touches. Impact 52 volunteers with a different nonprofit organization or cause each week and chronicles the life-changing stories and experiences online at https://impact52.org/.
Study Connection began in 1989, founded by Don Wolf, retired CEO and president emeritus of Do it Best Corp. In the last two decades an estimated 10,000 students have gone through the program. Volunteers are matched one-to-one with FWCS students who need academic assistance. Students and volunteers meet weekly after school for one hour during the school year with 79 percent of the students bused to and from local businesses for their tutoring sessions. This not only gives students a chance to receive some extra homework help, but also meet a mentor in the community and learn about local career opportunities.
Study Connection has been replicated in other cities across the nation, including Clinton, Iowa, where the Governor recognized it as the 2000 Volunteer Program of the Year. In 2007, Study Connection received the Indiana Youth Institute Award for investing in youth.
To get involved with Study Connection, call 467-8811.
About Fort Wayne Community Schools
With nearly 31,000 students, Fort Wayne Community Schools is one of the largest school districts in Indiana. FWCS proudly allows families to choose any of its 51 schools through its successful school-choice program creating diversity in each school, including some with more than 75 languages spoken. FWCS offers seven magnet schools focusing on areas such as science and math, communication, fine arts or Montessori at the elementary and middle school level. In high school, students can choose from the prestigious International Baccalaureate program, Project Lead the Way or New Tech Academy as well as other rigorous academic and specialty training programs.
Related Images:
