Afterschool program enters second year with new goals
When Charles Miller arrived at the Si Se Puede! Learning Center
at the Villa Luna Apartments in Hollister in September, the New
Jersey native had never even been to California before. Now he will
be spending a year working in Hollister and living in Gilroy as the
resident service coordinator of the local center.
Miller said when he applied for the Cesar E. Chavez Fellowship
to be a coordinator at one of the learning centers, he didn’t even
know in which state he would end up. The centers are funded through
the National Farm Workers Service Center Housing and Economic
Development Fund.
Afterschool program enters second year with new goals
When Charles Miller arrived at the Si Se Puede! Learning Center at the Villa Luna Apartments in Hollister in September, the New Jersey native had never even been to California before. Now he will be spending a year working in Hollister and living in Gilroy as the resident service coordinator of the local center.
Miller said when he applied for the Cesar E. Chavez Fellowship to be a coordinator at one of the learning centers, he didn’t even know in which state he would end up. The centers are funded through the National Farm Workers Service Center Housing and Economic Development Fund.
“I knew I would be a coordinator, but the details were a little blurry,” Miller said. “It could have been Texas, New Mexico, Arizona or California.”
Miller arrived to an after-school program that was just a year old, started in 2008 under the direction of coordinator Jeanette Acosta. Her main job was to get the center up and running, and to start creating partnerships in the community. Miller said his goal is to grow on those partnerships while also expanding the programs offered at the center to include adult residents of the apartment complex.
“So far, we’ve been really trying to make the center part of Hollister,” he said. “I am also trying to become a part of the community.”
When he arrived in September, Miller said his adjustment was made easier since the staff members, who are hired through AmeriCorps, and other volunteers had been working at the center for at least six months to a year.
“The parents, staff and students have all been so welcoming,” Miller said.
The resident activity leaders, paid staff members, include Edith Villegas, Vanessa Parra and Jessica Burgor.
“The staff have all been here a year or six months so they were already so experienced,” Miller said.
Some of the volunteers are adult residents from the apartment complex such as Sergio, Gustavo and Gimena Bibriescas. Others are student volunteers from Gavilan College, such as Liliana Resendez and Annaly Sandoval.
“We have a lot of volunteers,” Miller said. “We have a huge population that comes here with no pay to work many hours. They are great role models.”
One of Miller’s initial goals is to recruit more volunteers to help at the center, open to students in K-5. The center is open Monday through Thursdays from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. and Fridays from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Volunteers are needed to help students with their homework, as well as other activities.
Miller stressed that the most important part of the after-school program is the homework help. During the first hour of the program Monday through Thursday, volunteers or staff members sit with the kids to help them complete their homework.
“Through my own experience, I learned how important after-school programs can be,” he said.
Miller also wants to make the center a fun place for the kids and their families, part of his goal to make the center “a true community center.” Since he arrived in the middle of September, he said they have taken field trips, hosted a Welcome Night that was open to the community and featured a performance by El Teatro Campesino, and hosted a Halloween Fun Night.
One new offering this year is the use of the center’s computers for the parents of children enrolled in the program or adult residents of the Villa Luna Apartments. Miller will be offering optional classes for adults on using computers. He’d also like to add ELL classes to the mix.
Miller graduated in May from Boston College, where he studied history and Spanish. His interest in working as a coordinator was influenced by his own experience as a student in after-school programs as well as his work with such programs.
“I did a lot of different volunteering,” he said. “I studied in Ecuador and Spain, and it really got me interested in working with Spanish-speaking populations.”
As graduation approached, he said he was undecided about what he wanted to do – he just knew he wanted to work in education. He had also been inspired when he studied Cesar Chavez as an upperclassmen in college.
“In New Jersey, on the East Coast, I did not really know about him” Miller said. “I didn’t learn about him until late in college.”
So far, working with the students and parents at the local center has been rewarding.
“The [students] really think learning is cool,” he said.
The hardest part for Miller, “besides knowing two people in the whole, huge state,” is being far from home.
“It’s long and rewarding so you don’t have too much time to think that you’re 3,000 miles from home,” he said.
Miller said the center could use donations of school supplies such as books and paper, and arts and craft supplies, such as crayons, markers or scissors. But he also said he’d like to grow the number of volunteers who are helping at the center.
“Something that will stay with [the students] is good role models,” he said. “Scissors might last a couple months, but a good role model will stay with them forever.”
Get involved
The Si Se Puede! Learning Center is currently looking for enthusiastic and dedicated volunteers who are interested in working with children or anyone who would be willing to donate books or school supplies for the students. The Si Se Puede! Learning Center is a nonprofit that offers after-school services for children in grades K-5 and typical volunteer responsibilities include helping the students with their homework, correcting homework and aiding with activities.
The Si Se Puede! Learning Center operates Monday-Thursday from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. and Fridays from 3 p.m. to 4:30pm and is located in La Villa Luna Apartments at 850 Hillcrest Road, Hollister, California.
For more information call Charles Miller at 637-9097.
