Pitt Jumpstart students meet President Bush

Five Pitt students met and welcomed President George W. Bush to Pittsburgh Aug. 5.

The five… Five Pitt students met and welcomed President George W. Bush to Pittsburgh Aug. 5.

The five students – juniors John Ashcroft, Julie Hartline and Michael Benton, and seniors Caroline Chupka and Amanda Priebe – members of Jumpstart, an AmeriCorps grantee that places college students in one-on-one tutoring relationships with children in head start centers, which are government-funded preschools.

Jumpstart pairs up a college student with a preschooler in effort to work with those children in low-income areas throughout the region.

“We chose five students [from Jumpstart] to greet President Bush as he came off Air Force One,” said Angie Mannarino Gordon, program director of Jumpstart Pittsburgh. “[Bush] wanted to thank some of the people that were doing the services he asked in his State of the Union address, especially the younger generation for getting involved.”

Jumpstart is a Boston-based nonprofit organization with locations in 30 different communities across the country. It got its start by two Yale students in New Haven, Conn. The two students wanted to form a way for college students to be able to work and interact with young children.

The five Pitt students are Corps members of Jumpstart Pittsburgh, which started in 1998 and is centralized at Pitt. The program focuses on interacting with preschoolers between 3 and 5 years old to help broaden their education and intrigue them into the concept of wanting to learn.

“Jumpstart itself is great in that not only do college students get to help children, but you also get the chance to help keep children out of becoming a statistic in those lower income areas,” Priebe said.

“It was incredible that [Bush] came and recognized the program since he created the [US] Freedom Corps to focus on service and citizenship needs,” Hartline said. “I was very impressed that he took the time to speak with us.”

According to Priebe, once Bush got off the plane, Hartline thanked him for coming and he replied by thanking them and calling them “role models for your fellow students and young children.”

“It was quite an honor that Bush took the time out to visit such a rewarding program,” Cupka said. “It’s very satisfying knowing that you are making a difference in a child’s life.”

Jumpstart has had a career-changing impact of some of the students.

“I was a business major and now I want to go into education and teach,” Ashcroft said. “Making a difference in [children’s] lives is very powerful for both parties involved.”

When families see students getting so involved in the learning of their children, it sometimes prompts them to want to be included as well, according to Hartline.

“A large part of what we do is family involvement,” he said. “You get a large sense of families that want to be involved, then you get children that wish to be more involved.”

The parent of the child Benton worked with said he was the first positive role model in his life, according to Priebe.

“The relationship I formed with my child and his family was much more than I expected,” Priebe said. “I knew I’d get close to him, but I never expected him to become like a brother to me. I see him and compare it to stories that my mother told me.”

Patience is something Ashcroft said he has gained from working closely with his child. He said he never realized how patient you have to be with younger kids.

“A lot of our Corps members go above and beyond what they are asked,” Gordon said. “It’s an emotional job because they get really attached to the children and soon their whole lives now involve the children.”

Ashcroft was asked to complete 300 hours of service and he put in more than 500 hours of service. Chupka was supposed to complete 600 hours of service and finished more than 800 hours of service to Jumpstart programs.

“The students were recruited on [Pitt’s] campus and all were involved in the federal work study program through the University,” said Mark Vasu, vice president of marketing and development at Jumpstart.

For the 2002-03 academic year, Jumpstart plans to recruit 97 college students at Pitt to serve as Jumpstart’s Corps members. Eighty-six will serve 300 hours during the school year and 11 will serve 675 hours during the school year and summer, according to Allison Pitzer, communication manager of Jumpstart.

“Within a program like Jumpstart you can give the child the attention and love that no parent or family member can give them because you are doing it on your own will,” Priebe said.