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The quest for knowledge is a partnership between student and teacher. At IUPUI, the relationship continues after graduation for alumni like David Shirley through the IUPUI "Good Friends" volunteer tutoring program, a highly successful reading program which links the university with central Indiana schoolchildren.
 Photo by Michael Vaughn
David Shirley (above right) and other Good Friends from IUPUI assist children at 45 school sites in the Indianapolis area.Good Friends offers its university and community participants an opportunity to spend time with children when they need that contact most. |
"There's no price tag you can put on one-on-one interaction," said Shirley, vice president of Shirley Brothers Mortuaries. "You can play a tremendous role in a student's life."
Good Friends matches 140 adult volunteers with students ranging in age from kindergarten through 12th grade for one hour of tutoring each week. IUPUI alumni, students and staff read with children at 45 different school sites in the program.
Now in its seventh year, Good Friends, part of the America Reads initiative, is a national Americorps program sponsored by the alumni association, the Indiana Campus Compact and the Indiana Department of Education.
Good Friends volunteers also are advocates for higher education, said Karen Deery, associate director of the IUPUI Office of Alumni Relations. "Indiana ranks 47th in the country in the number of adults who have college degrees. Good Friends volunteers stand as role models for youth who never considered the possibility of attending a university."
To volunteer to be a part of the IUPUI Good Friends program, call 317-2745060 or go to this Web site:
http://www.iupui.edu/~alumrels/5.htm
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