Students help with tutoring program
The Waverly Community of central Columbia is not noted for affluence, but it is rich in ambitious leaders who have tremendous community spirit and compassion for their neighbors.
USC students, many of them Carolina and McNair Scholars, have been fortunate to work with a few of them in the after-school tutoring program at the Eddie B. Lloyd Jr. Community Center, formerly the Waverly Community Center. The USC students took a big step forward in spring 2005 by channeling their dedication into a formal student organization, Carolina Outreach Program & Services (COPS).
“It is a really easy area to neglect and it is really easy to overlook the fact that kids are there that are going to be a part of our society one day.”
“It is a really easy area to neglect and it is really easy to overlook the fact that kids are there that are going to be a part of our society one day,” says senior Ashley Kolaya, a leader of COPS. “The more positive influence we can have, the better.”
Lloyd, a widely known and respected community activist who died in February 2005, started the tutoring program almost 11 years ago with the help of his mother, Ruth, and several friends as a project of Waverly United for Action Inc. Outreach Ministry. Lloyd supplied the tools for Freshman Council members to clear a vacant lot in the Waverly area as a public service project for Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 2003. He spoke with them about some of the challenges faced by the community and rekindled the flame to organize and run the homework and tutoring center.
“(Lloyd) believed that the future of the Waverly Community depended on the fate of its children,” says Thomas Scott, a senior and former council member. “If he could somehow protect the youth from all of the problems around them while equipping them with important life skills, the residents of Waverly could build a better future for themselves.”
Many of these students began volunteering at the center and brought their friends. Scott and Kolaya came to the forefront in creating a sustainable program. Aside from helping these children with their academic growth, the center's volunteers hope to expose them to a wider scope of experiences. They have visited the library, parks, the skating rink, and pool. Over the summer volunteers invited guest speakers such as local ministers, a dentist, and a police officer to talk with the boys.
Dori Enderle and Mark Godfriaux stepped forward to run the homework center as freshmen in spring 2005. They coordinated an unprecedented number of volunteers, and worked with classmate and USC baseball player Brad Hocking to arrange for the students to attend a baseball game and meet team members.
“It was more work than I thought, but was also very fulfilling,” says Godfriaux. “The kids definitely could use some help, just something like an older friend or mentor to guide them along with whatever happens. The main goal is to get these kids to go toward college and get the education to get a better life.”
(Thomas Chandler is a junior with a Baccalaureus Artium et Scientiae major.)
For more information: The Eddie B. Lloyd Jr. Community Center is located at 2501 Millwood Ave. in Columbia; mailing address: 2551 Cherry St., Columbia SC 292025; phone: 779-1794; hours: Monday-Thursday, 2:30-6 p.m.