BIG BUDDY, LITTLE BUDDY ~by Dallas Cropper

Smyrna West Alternative School has a great tutoring program. But this program isn’t to help SWA students.  It is for the Smyrna West students to help someone much smaller in size. Every Thursday (“Third Grade Thursday”) Mrs. Messerly and Deputy Sanford shuttle a select few over to a local elementary school to pair up with a student who may not be reaching his/her full potential in the classroom. We help them get to where they need to be as far as academic and social communication…and we get to do it all over again on “First Grade Fridays.”

We use an organized program in which we read over a passage in a book and do written exercises pertaining to the lesson. We give the kids that little extra push they need to get on the right track to learning those tough multi-syllable words that they may not know. We simply give them a helping hand with their vocabulary and their reading skills. We may be helping them learn to read, but they are teaching us how to communicate and be leaders. This program gives SWA students a chance to get outside of our comfort zones and interact with younger people, which we may not do on the day-to-day basis.  In all reality, yes, we are helping these young kids; however, little do they know, they are helping us, too.