By Tereka Baltimore
Liberty Partnership Program is planting seeds of higher education in need based public schools in Buffalo.
“Liberty Partnership is a retentive tutoring program that helps students receive academic enrichment and college exposure,” said Theresa Bonito, program director of LPP.
LPP’s mission is to develop and implement supportive interventions and opportunities for students identified as being at risk of dropping out of school.
The program does this to ensure that these students will graduate from high school and will be prepared to enter postsecondary education and the workforce.
Workshops, special classes and educational tours are arranged to inform and help assist students in deciding what college they would like to attend after graduating high school.
Program activities and services
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academic counseling
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career counseling
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assistance with college applications, scholarships, financial aid
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summer and school year work-study
Students who are enrolled into the program receive a lot of college exposure and one-on-one tutoring from college students.
“We have college students as tutors because tutors must have a strong knowledge of the subject matter that they are tutoring,” said Bonito.
According to Bonito, tutors become mentors to the students because they can relate more to them
The selected high schools that LPP provides service to are involved in pre-college programs:
Future Teachers Clubs:
“Students are more accessible to the program when tutors are actually placed into the different schools,” said Bonito.
Tutors work directly in the classrooms with teachers as student-teacher assistants. Tutors also are placed in the library of each school so that students can have access to them.
“Students at a young age start to think about college,” said Bonito. By having college student tutors, students have someone to look up to. If the tutors can balance school, work, and extra-curricular activities then the students will know that they can do it also.
Representatives of the program go to the different schools and do presentations to inform students of the different opportunities that are available to them and also encourage them to seek higher education.
Incentives for enrolling in LPP
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field trips
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college tours
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movie passes
Reaction from McKinley a High School student
“The program helped me prepare for my SAT,” said senior Christopher Collier.
There are not too many programs in schools to help prepare students for college, he said.
“Tutoring is not only about book knowledge, but also learning about real life experience,” said freshman Danielle Hanson, a tutor at McKinley High School.
Hanson feels that it is very beneficial to have atutor to be successful.
Requirements to become a tutor
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strong knowledge in subject matter (math, science, English etc.)
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ability to work with junior and senior high school students
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GPA 2.5 and over
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dedication to students
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positive self image
Liberty Partnership is located on Buffalo State College Campus at Campus West School #96.
For more information please contact Tereka Baltimore at terekanb@yahoo.com
Imbedded links:
www.buffalostae.edu
www.mapquest.com
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