Today I received an email from UCAN “a student-run community service network that matches UMass students with volunteer positions in the Amherst public schools.” For the spring semester they are particularly interested in recruiting students who speak Spanish, Cape Verdean, Portuguese, Mandarin and Farsi. We certainly have students in our class who speak Spanish and Portuguese, and maybe you know friends who speak any of the other languages. The email I received states that

Volunteers submit an application with interests, availability, and skills and are placed into programs at the elementary, middle, and secondary school levels. These programs include after-school programs, lunch programs, and in-class or individual tutoring. UCAN requires no regular meetings or coursework, so volunteer placements are flexible and fit to students’ availability. Tutoring can be for 1hr/week or more.

Please follow this link to get more information. I do hope that we can get some volunteers from this class. It would be great to engage in a service-learning project within our own community.