In-School Residency Program

Michigan Nightlight: In your view, what makes your program innovative, effective or remarkable?
826michigan Program Director Amy Sumerton: I think our program hits all three points! It’s easy to lament the current state of public education in our country and especially our state, and by all means we SHOULD lament it. What makes our program “remarkable” is actually taking action and trying to affect direct, focused change in the schools in our community. I think the innovation lies in the simplicity of the mission: bring caring adults into local schools to help teachers and work one-on-one and in small groups with students. It’s effective because it shows young people that the community at large cares about their thoughts, their work, and their success in school.
 
What was the best lesson learned in the past year?
That simple works. There’s always an instinctive reaction to change a program each year in the name of growth and improvement. With our in-schools program, though, what I have learned is that it’s the simplicity of it that makes it so

You don’t need a lot of bells and whistles; one-on-one interaction and improving the adult-to-student ratio in a classroom benefits everyone involved.

successful. You don’t need a lot of bells and whistles; one-on-one interaction and improving the adult-to-student ratio in a classroom benefits everyone involved.
 
What was the hardest lesson learned in the past year?
The problem our public school system faces is bigger than our organization. Best intentions, even when acted upon, can only do so much. It’s a glaring reminder of the importance of what we do: until we have volunteers helping teachers and working one-on-one with students in every classroom in our area that needs them, we can’t affect extensive, long-term change. The silver lining? Our volunteer ranks grow exponentially every year. We’ll get there.
 
What really differentiates this program?
The volunteers, on a few different levels. Of course, utilizing volunteers keeps overhead low. It also ensures a diverse population of people with different backgrounds, interests, and areas of expertise. Most importantly though, when students find out the people who’ve been working with them week after week aren’t getting paid, that they are donating their time to help them, it makes an incredible impact.
 
What are the keys to success for your program?
Continuity and consistency. For our in-school program, we require volunteers to commit to at least two months and preferably the entire school year. It is important for the students to see the same people coming in every week, the same community members continually pledging their commitment to their success as individuals.
 
What are volunteers in your program most inspired by?
I hesitate to speak on behalf of our volunteers, but I’d venture that they are most inspired by small moments. Last year, one of

It is important for the students to see the same people coming in every week, the same community members continually pledging their commitment to their success as individuals.

our interns became the heroine of a mystery story a fourth grader at Erickson Elementary wrote. A few weeks ago, a Muslim first grader at Adams Elementary chased one of our volunteers into the hallway. The volunteer was also wearing a hijab, and the student was delighted to see someone “like her” at her school. The volunteer had had a similar experience in school, so it meant a lot to her too.
 
Occasionally, when we don’t have enough volunteers, I get to participate in residencies, so while I’m not a volunteer, I do have some of the kinds of interactions with our students that volunteers do. Two years ago, an eight-year-old boy that I worked on creative writing with every week -- who’d been “assigned” to me because he was such a reluctant writer -- ran up to me one Wednesday morning and said, “Amy! I’m so glad you’re here. I’ve been needing to ask you all week, can a story have too much narrative tension?” I’ll never forget it.
 
This kind of work is littered, every session, with small moments, the kind that are so important.