Wellesley in the Community
Wellesley's commitment to service extends beyond the campus walls through the following programs and opportunities which extend to local communities
and the city of Boston.
Bridging the Gap
About: Bridging the Gap is a volunteer program that assists high school students in the Boston area with the college application process. Each student in the program is matched with a high school junior or senior, and serves as a mentor to better prepare the student for the college application process.
Population: Bridging the Gap primarily serves minority students from public high schools in the greater Boston area. Teachers select students who think they will benefit from participating in the program, and students who satisfy a GPA cutoff are eligible to apply.
Service activities: Tasks of the mentor include, but are not limited to, editing personal statements, pursuing scholarship opportunities, and assisting with the college search.
Time commitment: Students should be sure they can fully devote their time to participating. We value the one-on-one relationship created between Wellesley mentors and our mentees, and encourage contact outside of mentoring sessions. Also, any students who are on federal work-study can get paid for their position as a mentor.
Logistics: Students volunteer at the John D. O’Bryant School of Math and Science in Boston. Students must be available every Tuesday or Wednesday, from 1:00 to 4:30 PM. Volunteers must be available every Tuesday or Wednesday from 1 to 4:30pm to mentor. Transportation is provided. NOTE: Anyone who is interested in mentoring but isn't available on Tuesdays or Wednesdays should contact Coby Greer directly.
Contact: Coby Greer | cgreer@wellesley.edu
Campus Girl Scouts
Population: We generally work with older Girl Scouts (ages 11+, grades 6-12).
Service activities: We run two badge workshops each semester for local Cadette, Senior, and Ambassador Girl Scouts. Campus Girl Scout members also have opportunities to volunteer with specific troops, e.g. as co-leaders. We are also involved in coordinating cookie sales in the spring semester.
Logistics: Most volunteering takes place on campus at our badge workshops. However, we can organize other activities off campus as well (transportation will be provided for off-campus activities). Badge workshops usually take place on Saturdays from 1 to 4 pm, although CGS members are usually there from 12 to 4:45 or so.
Contact: Christina Rozek | crozek@wellesley.edu
Chinatown Afterschool Program
About: Chinatown Afterschool is a tutoring and enrichment program which serves children in the Boston Chinatown area who are in grades 1 through 6. Chinatown Afterschool is jointly run by Harvard and Wellesley. The program has about 80 counselors and serves 70 children.
Population: Children in Boston Chinatown in grades 1-6.
Service activities: Volunteers work with a group of 9-15 students. Volunteers strive to provide a safe, educational, and enriching environment for the children. Homework help and tutoring are the focus of the first hour of the program, followed by an hour of creative enrichment activities designed for each counselor group. Volunteers combine individual attention with cooperative group activities. Field trips and other program-wide activities outside of the classroom are planned throughout the semester.
Logistics: Students volunteer in the program’s classroom spaces in Boston's Chinatown. Students volunteer a minimum of one afternoon a week (Monday-Thursday) from 2:45 to 7pm. Students must commit to one afternoon a week, grade-level meetings on weekends at Harvard, and occasional all-program bonding and field trips. Transportation is provided to and from the program site during the week, but not to weekend meetings at Harvard.
Contact: Alice Harris-Schlotterbeck | lharriss@wellesley.edu
Habitat for Humanity
About: Volunteering for a Habitat build is an extremely rewarding experience! Not only will you help better the quality of life for a family, you will also learn new skills (power tool usage!) and be able to see the difference that you make through the work and the relationships that you build with future homeowners.
Population: Low-income families
Service activities: Volunteers help with the building of houses, fundraising and bringing speakers to campus to discuss relevant topics such as sustainable building or addressing the needs of lower income families.
Logistics: Students typically volunteer on weekends in the eastern Massachusetts area. Transportation is provided and we are grateful for students willing to volunteer as drivers. There are a few campus and community events during the semester which take place on weekdays.
Contact: Andrea Kine | akine@wellesley.edu or Penny Wang | pwang@wellesley.edu
Let's Get Ready
Population: Our program serves the students of Framingham High School.
Service activities: Volunteers act as SAT coaches, as well as aid high school students with their completion of college applications. We provide the curriculum that our coaches should teach.
Logistics: Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5:30 to 9:30pm. There is no minimum time requirement, but we do ask that our coaches try to attend all classes in order to build a lasting relationship with their students. Transportation is provided. Students can act as coaches during the fall or spring semester. Let's Get Ready also offers summer coaching positions.
Contact: Soobin Jeon | sjeon2@wellesley.edu or Erin
Golden | egolden@wellesley.edu
Mission Hill After School Program
About: The Mission Hill After School Program aims to help students aged 5-13 them meet their school district's goals as well as individual academic goals, increase self-confidence, and encourage the continued pursuit of education. MHASP volunteers have been working in the Mission Hill neighborhood for over twenty years, and as Boston's oldest and largest after school program we have already seen several generations of young students graduate. Most importantly, everyday when we go to program, the families of our students let us know how much our work is appreciated. As a volunteer for MHASP, you will not only become part of a large group of volunteers, but you will become part of the MHASP community that has created intercollegiate friendships for over two decades. This is a great way to give back and feel connected to the historical Mission Hill neighborhood and the city of Boston.
Population: Mission Hill After School Program (MHASP) works with young students (ages 5 to 13) in Boston's Mission Hill neighborhood. All students attend Boston Public Schools and are struggling to meet the Department of Education's academic standards.
Service activities: Each volunteer works one-on-one with a student as their mentor and friend. During a typical day at the program, volunteers will accompany program coordinators to pick up the students from their houses, walk with them to the program, help with practice math problems before starting homework, read a book with their student, and work with them on the extracurricular activity the coordinators have planned for the day. These activities follow the theme the coordinators have set for the week, such as making kites to learn about spring and celebrate the changing of the seasons or designing and building bridges out of household materials to learn about gravity and city planning. The volunteer's responsibility is to bring a lot of energy each time they come to program, to think of creative ways to help their student, to have fun, and to be a role model.
Logistics: Mission Hill After School Program takes place within the Mission Hill community in the classrooms of Wentworth Institute of Technology (all the students live within walking distance). The Program takes place Monday through Thursday, between 2:45 and 6:45pm. Volunteers must attend program once a week and the three mandatory trainings that happen during the semester. In addition to the weekly after school program, MHASP sponsors 3 field trips for the students during the semester. MHASP hosts parties for the counselors at Harvard so that all of MHASP's 160 volunteers from Harvard, Wellesley, Northeastern, BU, and Wentworth can meet and get to know each other. Transportation is provided to all MHASP events.
Contact: Susan Huang | 608-334-1787 | susan.huang@wellesley.edu | Join our Facebook group!
Stronger Communities, Stronger Schools
About: Stronger Communities, Stronger Schools is a partnership between St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, The Blackstone Elementary School & Wellesley College student volunteers.
Located in Boston, St. Stephens Episcopal Church is adjacent to The Blackstone Elementary School, a school that received the second worse MCAS scores in 2009 and was identified through state and federal policy as a “turn-around school”. Turn-around schools are identified by their subpar test scores, and have three years to turn around their academic performance or they are in danger of being shut down. St. Stephens felt it their responsibility to be a good neighbor to The Blackstone Elementary School during their time of need and has since established a relationship with Blackstone staff to assist in the process of keeping The Blackstone Elementary School from being shut down.
Population: The Blackstone Elementary School has 620 students in grades K-5, with 70% of those students speaking English as a second language and a large percentage who don’t live in the surrounding neighborhoods, creating a unique and challenging situation. Wellesley volunteers are a just small percentage of the total number of volunteers that contribute to both St. Stephens and The Blackstone’s efforts.
Logistics: Since our initial partnership, Stronger Communities, Stronger Schools has been able to expand to different sites including Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center and Lenox After-School program in lower Roxbury. We are unique in the fact that we are the only Wellesley student organization that works within Boston Public Schools in collaboration with several after school programs. We fully believe that our efforts assist in build stronger communities that will enhance and support a strong school system. Check out the program flyer for Fall 2012 or join the Facebook group!
Contact: Loren S. Cahill |314-809-4955 | lcahill@wellesley.edu or Katie McCann | 339-223-2713 | kmccann@wellesley.edu
Wellesley Volunteers
About: Wellesley Volunteers offers a wide range of community service programs and leadership opportunities for Wellesley students. We cater to students who enjoy serving their communities, but do not have the time to do so on a weekly basis. In the past our service projects have included the Greater Boston Food Bank, Drumlin Farms, Pine Street Inn, Cambridge Community Center, Wish Project, and Save the Bay. In the spring, we hold our annual Hair Donation Event to benefit Beautiful Lengths.
Population: Varies
Logistics: Transportation is provided via CWS service vehicles or ZipCars.
Contact: Anne Williams | awillia3@wellesley.edu or Jiezhen Wu | jwu7@wellesley.edu
