OROVILLE – Oroville Elementary’s long-running HOSTS program (30+ years), will begin serving students on Oct. 7 this year. The HOSTS program is unique in that it pairs a community volunteer with a third-grade reader who needs just a little extra help to put all the pieces of reading together. This is a program that relies on volunteers who have 30 minutes to Help One Student to Succeed.

This year our program’s time slot is 10:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. each Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday when students come to school. We have a lively 30 minutes in which our mentors get to interact with their student through working with sounds and reading poetry while focusing on the fluency skills of accuracy, pace, phrasing, expression and punctuation. Students also answer a daily question orally and then write the sentence. The favorite part of our sessions is the last 15 minutes, where students read a self-selected book out loud to their mentor.

HOSTS brings so many benefits to students and mentors; it’s no wonder that we’ve been running it for over 30 years. Our students gain a support system of adults who care about their success. They also get an extra two hours each week of supported practice with vital reading skills. Most importantly, they get that time to read and engage with books of their own choosing. Research shows that students who have someone beyond the home who is concerned and connected are more likely to stay in school and graduate.

Mentors form lasting relationships with the students they help. They often tell me that a young man or woman approached them at a store asking, “Do you remember me? You were my HOSTS mentor when I was in second grade!” Coming to HOSTS once a week provides a nice routine of getting out and about for our retired mentors, who often go to lunch together following our session. Mentors socialize with each other and the children they assist. They get to watch as their students become stronger, more confident readers. Everyone gets to have fun reading silly poems, completing word ladders and getting to know favorite book characters like Elephant and Piggie, The Bad Guys, or Dog Man. The 30 minutes pass quickly, but the connections last forever.

We are always looking for more volunteers to serve as mentors. Our goal is to fill 40 slots each week – 10 students x 4 days. We welcome people who can come in once a week, or those who have a little more free time and choose multiple days. You could be a part of our little community of mentors and learners. If you are interested, please give a call to the school at 509-476-3332 and ask about being a HOSTS mentor. You can leave a message for Mary Willey, the coordinator, and she will get back to you. You can also stop by the school, call the same number to get buzzed in and stop by our main office to pick up our standard school volunteer form and information about HOSTS. We’d love to have a full slate of mentors this year.

If you join us, you will find yourself immersed in a culture of building success. Our theme this year is “We STICK with our reading skills, ‘cause CACTUS MAKES PERFECT!” Please consider becoming a HOSTS mentor and see our students grow and bloom!