The goal of CURCS, or Connecting Universities to Rochester City Schools, is to target young, energetic, and innovative college students as volunteers to serve as tutors, mentors, and positive role models during the enrichment period of Expanded Learning Time schools. It aims to bridge the gap between the Rochester area universities and the Rochester City School District in order to promote meaningful community engagement and involvement. Because of the minimal time requirement of only 2 hours a week, this volunteer program is very popular among busy students of all majors, from pre-med to English.
CURCS was started by Moudi Hubeishy, an AmeriCorps VISTA at the Rochester City School District in order to connect university students of different genders, races, religions, majors, and socioeconomic backgrounds to both each other and their community. He found that these students were excellent volunteers in that they were relatable to the young students they were working with. Though CURCS is trying to branch out to more city schools this year, it is, as of now, primarily situated in School No. 29, which offers a GEM program, or Growth and Education for students with Multiple Disabilities. Volunteers work in mixed classrooms with GEM and Gen Ed students and select activities such as cooking, community service, Lego League, art, and STEM based on their own interests and career desires. Because we match students with classrooms of their own interests, the relationship between volunteer and student is mutually fruitful. In addition to directly engaging with school students, CURCS Volunteers also have room to create activities and design lesson plans, providing volunteers with a very hands on experience during their time.
As previously stated, the program’s time commitment is extremely flexible, requiring only 2 hours a week (more if the volunteer prefers). Shifts can be scheduled at any time (9am-5pm) and during any day (M-F) according to the individual schedules of participants. It should be noted however that enrichment subjects such as art, drama and STEM occur from 9:00- 9:45 a.m. and 3:30 to 5:00 p.m. Thus, shifts before or after these times implies that volunteers will be working in academic classes where they will primarily be tutoring, reading, and practicing vocabulary etc.
Interested in participating in the program? Contact Julie.Elliot@rcsdk12.org to sign up or to request more information!