THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 5, 1995 TAG: 9503050054
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAUL SOUTH, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: KILL DEVIL HILLS LENGTH: Medium: 81 lines
Shortly after 3:30 Friday afternoon, the lunchroom at First Flight Elementary School fills with the voices of children attending First Flight's after-school program.
Teachers and their aides are there, but two teenagers become the center of attention as they arrive. The elementary pupils rush with arms outstretched and gather around 16-year-old Jennifer Perciavalle and 15-year-old Elizabeth Kelly.
The Manteo High School sophomores are part of a new pilot program that involves high schoolers in non-profit public and private organizations in Dare County.
The effort is the brainchild of Bonnie Brown, coordinator of the Dare Voluntary Action Center, a clearinghouse for volunteer organizations in Dare County.
``I first began thinking about this last summer.'' Brown said. ``We had a college student who had a full-time job, but who wanted to volunteer. I came to realize that we have an untapped resource in young people.''
Inspiration also came from a similar program in Montgomery County, Md., where the state requires high school students to perform 60 hours of community service to graduate.
But the clincher came through a call from a Manteo High teacher, Susan Lee.
``Susan called me and asked me to talk to students in a leadership class,'' Brown recalled. ``The kids knocked my socks off. They swarmed me, asking me how they could help.''
Now 16 students are involved in the week-old program. It will be implemented as a credit course next year for high school seniors. Students work for various agencies, including the Dare County schools, the Hotline crisis intervention center, Britthaven Nursing Home and the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service.
Diane Forrest, First Flight Elementary principal, sees the student volunteers as role models for the younger children.
``Certainly, the right kind of students can be a role model for the younger children,'' she said. ``Also, a lot of high school-age students are torn in terms of their careers. This is a way to help them get some direction.''
Perciavalle has some heartfelt reasons to be involved at First Flight.
``I love working with children,'' she said. ``I saw the information, and wanted to be involved.''
Kelly has a younger sister the same age as some of the children she helps with homework, and on the playground in the after-school program.
``They want to be more like you,'' she said. ``They think we're cool.''
Nine-year-old Whitney Rogers of Kill Devil Hills is one of the children who delight in the teenage volunteers.
``It's fun,'' the third-grader said. ``They're old. But they're not old old,'' he says. Pointing to Perciavalle, he says, ``Her hair is a little out of whack, but that's OK.''
Jennifer Aigner, 29, a regular after-school assistant, said the high schoolers have been well-received.
``The kids love the two girls,'' she said. ``Some of them have sisters and brothers in high school. I think, because there's not as much difference in age, that they can relate to them better.''
While the high school students help the youngsters as role models, they, too, gain something.
``A lot of colleges, when they look at your transcripts, also look at how you were involved in the community. It also gives you an opportunity to give something back to the community.''
Mary Hall, the coordinator of the program, says students also will gain job skills and valuable contacts that will benefit them throughout their lives.
There also are the intangibles.
``We're teaching kids that the benefits of work don't always come in a paycheck,'' Hall said. ``What they put into a community will determine what they get out.''
``We're planting seeds in the older and younger children, showing them the value of community service. We're hoping for a garden of perennials.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
DREW C. WILSON/Staff
Whitney Holt, 9, of First Flight Elementary School, whispers to
Jennifer Perciavalle, 16, a volunteer from Manteo High School.
by CNB