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Volpe Center Highlights - August 1999

Director's Notes

Director's Notes | Focus | Safety | Mobility | Human and Natural Environment |
Economic Growth and Trade | National Security | Published and Presented

At the April 1997 Summit for America's Future, President Clinton challenged us to ensure that America's least-advantaged children have an ongoing relationship with a caring adult as a mentor, tutor, or coach, and are able to develop marketable skills for 21st-century jobs. In response, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Rodney E. Slater established the Garrett A. Morgan Technology and Transportation Futures Program to provide students with positive incentives for attaining math, science, and technology literacy.

I am pleased that the Volpe Center has, for the past seven years, been hard at work attaining these goals through its TEAM (Tutoring, Educating, and Mentoring) Effort. Since 1992, the TEAM Effort has presented Volpe Center and other DOT employees and contractors with the opportunity to participate in volunteer educational outreach activities, reinforcing the Center's commitment to the Cambridge community. As we begin the eighth year of this effort, the following programs will be offered:

Garrett A. Morgan Technology and Transportation Futures Program (with the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School)

Volpe's relationship with the Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School (CRLS), Cambridge's only high school, has evolved over the past seven years from a one-on-one Tutor/Mentor Program to the current emphasis on the Garrett A. Morgan Technology and Transportation Futures Program. Volpe volunteers provide teachers with a transportation-related project that could be used as the theme for teaching their curriculum, or with opportunities to learn about transportation-related new technologies or new applications of current technologies. This may involve one or more tours of the Volpe Center, project demonstrations and/or seminars. In addition, the volunteers may work with students to develop transportation projects as part of their studies or possibly for entry into the school's Science Fair.

Kendall Square Learning Project ~ English as a Second Language

Established by Volpe Center employees in 1992, the Kendall Square Learning Project (KSLP) is a non-profit, charitable organization that provides classes in English as a Second Language (ESL) and basic life skills to adults two nights a week at the Volpe Center. ESL classes are open to anyone willing to learn. Four levels of classes are offered, ranging from little or no English skills at Level I to advanced conversation and grammar at Level IV. Students over the years have come from such countries as Haiti, China, India, Pakistan, Russia, and El Salvador. While learning or improving their English, students are also encouraged to improve basic life skills. The overall goal of KSLP is to help integrate the students into American society and enable them to get better jobs. Since its inception, the KSLP has attracted more than 100 volunteers to reach out to more than 300 students.

Robert F. Kennedy Elementary School Lunch Buddies Program

Lunch Buddies, the newest of the TEAM Effort programs, involves Volpe community volunteers reading to Robert F. Kennedy Elementary School 2nd graders, on average twice a month during the students' lunch period. The purpose of Lunch Buddies is to instill in children a love of reading and to provide an adult role model. Lunch Buddies began this past March and continued through the end of the school year. In its first year of operation, about 60 Volpe community employees volunteered to become a Lunch Buddy. This assured that all of the 47 Kennedy School 2nd graders had their own personal Lunch Buddy or a "stand-in" during periods of travel, vacation, or illness.

This program proved to be an incredible success in its first year. The enthusiasm of the 2nd graders for these reading sessions was surpassed only by that of the volunteers! The June visit by Transportation Secretary Rodney E. Slater to the Kennedy School provided a fitting end for the 1998-1999 Lunch Buddies program. He spoke eloquently about the limitless opportunities that education provides; citing as an example the achievements of Garrett A. Morgan, a son of former slaves who became a renowned inventor. Due to the overwhelming response to this new program, Lunch Buddies 2000 is being expanded to recruit a new cadre of volunteers to read to this year's Kennedy School 2nd graders. Last year's volunteers have graduated to the 3rd grade along with their Lunch Buddies from last year!

Keeping in mind the President's challenge to become "a mentor, tutor, or coach to America's least advantaged children," I encourage all members of the Volpe community to consider volunteering to be a Volpe "TEAM player." Today's school children are tomorrow's leaders. Let's do our part now to prepare them for the challenges that lie ahead.

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