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In an elementary school near Syracuse, a teacher noticed one of the students was a great orator but couldn’t always do well in a group setting. The student needed more one-on-one time, a presence to be around him while he is doing his classwork.

Katherine Quinn, a member of Syracuse University Literacy Corps, provided that service to this student last year.

The SULC provides tutors to local school districts as well as programs such as the North Side Learning Center, Hillside and 100 Black Men of Syracuse. Currently, 35 tutors are involved in the program and are spread between 15 sites, said Carla Ramírez, an assistant director at SU’s Shaw Center, who runs the program.

Before the pandemic, Ramírez said the program had around 100 tutors and was spread between 40 sites. Little by little, they are getting back to where they were before the pandemic, she said.

The literacy corps’ website calls itself a “reciprocal learning experience,” where SU students gain experience working in the Syracuse community.

Quinn, a senior public relations major at SU, joined the literacy corps in her sophomore year. During her time as a member, she said, her work has varied.

“I would do vocab words, I would read one-on-one with them, I would help them with any of the class work they were doing,” Quinn said. “Other classrooms I would literally just sit in there and just help keep the peace.”

In kindergarten classes, she would take students out for walks if they were being moody or disruptive.

The work the SULC conducts is not restricted to younger children — the group also works with people as old as college students.

The North Side Learning Center helps refugees and immigrants learn English, NSLC Executive Director Mark Cass said. He added that SULC tutors have been the strongest and most effective the organization has had.

He said people who arrive in the U.S. at a high school age and do not know English have a difficult road ahead. They need to pass English state testing as well as finishing their high school course content.

“There (were) twin sisters who came here and one of the literacy corp students … really just took them under her wing,” Cass said.

Two years later, one of the sisters, Nidaa Aljabbarin, received the Cooke Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship. The scholarship provided Aljabbarin, who was then a student at Onondaga Community College, up to $40,000 a year to complete her bachelor’s degree, in addition to other benefits. She was one of 50 students to receive the scholarship in the country.

Quinn also worked as a tutor at North Side Learning Center. Much of her work, she said, was helping students with technical items such as learning Microsoft Word or Canva.

Quinn said that, during the holiday season, many students went out of their way to celebrate with her.

“They all wrote me letters,” she said. “I was so touched I almost cried. … I can’t believe that I’ve impacted (the students) and (the students have) impacted me in such profound ways.”

Cass said literacy corps tutors seem to come “pre-trained” to work with students at the North Side Learning Center.

Kieran Kokesh, a senior at SU studying psychology and neuroscience, also works as a tutor for the SULC.

“Tutors would be required to attend meetings and discuss your sociological awareness of your experiences, such as removing yourself from a ‘savior complex’ for example, when faced with kids who are perhaps lower-class or (using English as a second language), or some other circumstance that differs from your own,” Kokesh said in an email to The Daily Orange.

Camille Muzzarelli, another tutor with the SULC, also said tutors discussed white savior complexes and diversity. SULC taught tutors how to talk to teachers when a student is having problems at home, Muzzarelli said.

Ramírez said tutors do not just teach with the SULC, they also serve as role models and support systems for students. Tutors need to be ready to help kids in any possible way, the assistant director said, and the SULC provides training for those situations.

She said the university is within its own bubble, and does not necessarily relate to what the Syracuse community is actually living. There’s two different worlds within the city, Ramírez said.

“The divide between the average SU student and the populace is striking — how I-81 affected the population, leading to a significant amount of poverty in the area,” Kokesh said. “Yet SU may feel like a castle gated off from it.”

Published on February 28, 2022 at 12:53 am

Contact Kyle: kschouin@syr.edu | @Kyle_Chouinard