Wesleyan Home → Office of Community Service → Frequently Asked Questions

• ASHA (AIDS Sexual Health Awareness)

  • COORDINATOR: Lena Solow (asha.wesleyan@gmail.com)

    MISSION: Focus on community sexual health education outreach.  Lead interactive workshops in Connecticut high schools about prevention of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), sexual consent, and safe-sex practices.  Coordinate free STI testing events in Middletown. Raise awareness of these issues on Wes's campus.  Fundraise and work with organizations on a local and international level.

    LOCATION OF PROGRAM: Based on Wesleyan's campus, but we teach in schools around the state.

    HISTORY:  Started by students more than 7 years ago, and certain aspects of the group have evolved throughout the years.

    ACTIVITIES:

    Teaching

    ASHA teaches in local high school throughout the school year. Our workshop's objectives are to arm students with the information and resources they need to make informed decisions regarding their own sexual health, including:

    Boundary Setting, Communication, and Consent

    Protection against STIs

    Contraception

    To request an ASHA workshop, visit our web request form.

    Campus/Community awareness

    This group tries to enhance awareness to sexual health issues and HIV/AIDS to the Wesleyan and Middletown community throughout the school year. Two main events that ASHA participates in annually with regards to campus and community awareness each year is World AIDS Week and organizing free STI testing for the community.

    Fundraising

    Each year we create multiple kinds of fundraisers ranging from bake sales to dance parties in attempt to raise money for the Oasis Center and other local agencies working to support people in the community living with HIV/AIDS.

    SKILLS NEEDED: Creativity, Enthusiasm for Teaching and Fundraising.

    COMMITMENT REQUIRED: The group will meet twice/month, but outside of these weekly meetings members are expected to volunteer regularly for teaching dates (at least once/semester), and other group awareness or fundraising activities.

    DESCRIPTION OF TRAINING/ORIENTATION PROVIDED:  Half-day new teacher training will occur at least once each semester.
• Community Health Center

  • Coordinator: Jelisa Adair  (wesleyanchc@gmail.com)

    Gain experience through various programs of the Community Health Center.  Then meet periodically with the Health Advisor of the Career Resource Center to debrief experiences and see how it relates to potential careers in the health care field. Opportunities in 8 different programs including Miles of Smiles, the Family Wellness Center, Behavioral Health, Healthcare for the Homeless and more. Volunteers have participated in one-time wellness programs at Macdonough School, weekly interviews with patients with the Access to Care Program, administrative work such as patient chart reviews or baby sit children while their family attends medical appointments.

• Connecticut Forest and Park Association (CFPA)

  • Student Coordinator: Annie DeBoer (wescfpa@gmail.com)

    Connecticut Forest and Parks Association (CFPA) is Connecticut's oldest conservation organization that works to preserve hiking trails, conserve land and forests, and educate the community. As a volunteer you could work to plan hikes for Wesleyan and our local community, set up events such as film screenings and lectures, create video podcasts that the CFPA will use to educate their hikers, and work on implementing an educational youth program at the CFPA headquarters located down the road from Wes! Working closely with the CFPA, students will have hands-on experiences and will work to create a strong and lasting community partnership.

• Elderly Services

  • Contact: Sofia Warren

    Middletown Senior Center

    The Middletown Senior Center needs student volunteers to help out with their Tuesday night activity programs.  In addition, they need help with special events and projects such as the international food festival, organizing theme-based dances, and bingo nights.

    One MacDonough Place

    An assisted living facility where volunteers are needed on Friday afternoons to assist with game time/social hour.
    Volunteers are also needed for special events like storytelling, playing cards, and small music performances.

    ElderCare Solutions of Central CT and St. Luke's Apartments

    Located across from the Russell Library, this facility houses low-income female senior citizens. Participating through the Faith in Action Program, students will be matched with one or two residents and have weekly friendly visits and the option of running small errands for the seniors.

• Green Street Arts Center

  •  Student Coordinator: Charming Yu

    Green Street Arts Center located in Middletown's North End neighborhood is a community resource for residents of all ages and walks of life to develop their talents, skills and abilities.  Volunteers who are able to make a regular commitment - be it once a week or every day - are encouraged to take on any one of a variety of roles in the AfterSchool program, as homework helpers, teaching asistants, and/or music instructors.

• Housing & Hunger Issues

  • Coordinator: Haley Baron (hfh@wesleyan.edu)

    
    Middlesex Habitat for Humanity of Connecticut

            Wesleyan students, in partnership with the The Middlesex Habitat for Humanity of Connecticut, partake in local builds of homes that benefit low-income families. The Middlesex Habitat for Humanity chapter brings families and communities in need together with volunteers and resources to build decent affordable housing.

    Food Salvage Program

              Pick up food from on-campus dining and deliver to local homeless shelter.  Pick ups occur every day of the week; students are assigned one shift per week, total commitment is less than one hour.

    International Advocacy: Haiti Action and Relief Team (HART)

             HART examines the discourse of U.S. foreign aid policy in relation to developing nations and their economic success. Through advocacy and awareness, we will better understand how US foreign aid greatly positively and negatively affects the rates of homelessness and hunger around the world. The focus will be on Haiti, as a case study, but will also explore other states that have been affected by U.S. foreign aid.

    Local advocacy

              Local advocacy will incorporate the issues of housing and hunger that Middletown residents, our neighbors, face on a daily basis. By doing so, we can bring awareness to the Wesleyan community of poverty that exists in our own backyard.

    Promoting Active Citizenship Today (PACT)

            Promoting Active Citizenship Today (PACT) is an online newsletter that allows Wesleyan students to easily involve themselves in clubs and organizations. PACT helps to publicize events occurring on campus and in Middletown to foster a community of active and global citizens.
• Tutoring

  • Coordinator: Thomas Jackson (tutor@wesleyan.edu)

    Individual Tutoring Service

    • Tutoring and Mentoring
    • Get matched with a child/adult to fit your schedule and interests
    • All ages and subjects available
    • Commitment: At least one hour, once a week
    • Flexible Hours
    • All ages, mostly children

    For Other Tutoring Opportunities Click Here

• North End Mentors

  • Coordinator: Helen DeKorne

    Purpose of Program: NEAT Mentors is a program that pairs Wesleyan students with a child that lives in the North End of Middletown for a mentoring relationship. Mentors build relationships with the children in the North End and their families. The pairs are asked to meet on a weekly basis for a minimum of an hour on their own schedule in Middletown. The mentors also become a part of North End Action Team which is a neighborhood advocacy organization dedicated to the development of grassroots leadership.  The mentors (where appropriate) will serve as community organizers, giving information to families about opportunities (summer camps,etc..) and helping to engage them in their neighborhood.

    IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS

    Mentoring Manual: click here

    Mentoring Application: click here

    Permission Slip: click here

    Every mentor needs to have a permission slip from the mentee's parents.  If you have a car, you must photocopy your driver's license and insurance information for NEAT's insurance policy.  You can do this at the Office of Community Service and leave it in Angela's box.
• Center for Prison Education Volunteer Programs

  • Student Coordinator: Margo Tercek (pspyork@gmail.com)

    Facilitate academic workshops that strive to provide a supportive space for ideas in prison, specifically York Correctional, a women's facility.
    
    We are also sending Wesleyan students into classrooms in CJTS (Connecticut Juvenile Training School), a correctional facility for boys ages 14-17.

    This program works in collaboration with the Center for Prison Education. 

• Special Events

  • Student Coordinator:  TBD

    The OCS sponsors and supports several one time events throughout the year including Halloween Halls, Daffodil Days and Blood Drives.  If you are interested in assisting with these events, contact Siriwan.

• Traverse Square

  • Coordinators: Jalen Alexander, Micharri Pratts, Sara Schorr, Amber Smith (traversesquare@gmail.com)
    
    Traverse Square

    Student run and neighborhood based, the Traverse Square After-school program provides a community setting for Middletown children to receive academic and social support.  Also known as "The Center," this student designed program is geared to provide Middletown children with the proper resources to succeed in all aspects of life. Helping the children with their homework is the main goal of the program, and we also provide academic enrichment, recreational activities, and Friday afternoon fieldtrips for the students. 

    The Center exists as a communal space in which the children have created a place of their own through their lasting relationships and friendships with each other and the Wesleyan student staff, and their commitment to the Center and the values it represents. 

    The program runs Monday - Thursday from 4pm - 6pm.  Tutors are asked to commit at least two days per week.

• WesESL

  • Student Coordinator: Amy Torres (wesleyanesl@gmail.com)

    Tutors for this program teach English to the custodial staff on-campus.  Wesleyan students tutor one on one for 1.5 hours twice a week.  We provide training, curriculum, and weekly meetings to help you plan your lessons.

• Wesleyan Farmers' Market

  • Market Master: Shane Donahue (wesleyanfarmersmarket@gmail.com)

    The Wesleyan Farmers' Market is a student-run initiative committed to supporting local agriculture, providing fresh, affordable, nutritious food, and building community between the students faculty and staff of Wesleyan University, and the citizens in Connecticut. We have markets from September to May on the first and third Wednesday of every month. In the fall and spring we hold the markets in the Usdan Courtyard and during the winter they are in Fayerweather. Students do everything from helping set up and clean up, to staffing an info table, to advertising, to running the finances, and to arranging for elementary school classes to come on field trips to the market. We welcome new ideas and new people into our group.

    Dates for 2011 - 2012 coming soon.

• WesReads and WesMath

  • Coordinator: Taylor Deloach, Rebecca McClellan (wes.reads.math@gmail.com)

    MISSION OF PROGRAM: To provide support for higher level learners in the areas of reading and math.

    LOCATION OF PROGRAM: Macdonough Elementary School 66 Spring St (12 min. walk from campus)

    HISTORY:  Although Wesleyan students have been involved at Macdonough in the past, the program in this capacity is relatively new. Since the inception of WesReads/WesMath in 2007, Macdonough students' standardized test scores have increased significantly, allowing more students to access higher level classes in middle school.

    ACTIVITIES: Most Wesleyan students read or do math with two to three elementary school children outside of the classroom. Some Wesleyan students provide assistance and supervision in the computer labs, and there is also an opportunity for volunteers to go into first and second grade classrooms to provide in-class reading support.

    SKILLS NEEDED: Basic reading and math skills, ability to work with children.

    COMMITMENT REQUIRED: At least 1 hour per week every week once orientation takes place.

    DESCRIPTION OF TRAINING/ORIENTATION PROVIDED: At the beginning of each semester, Macdonough's principal leads orientation sessions to explain the program's goals and the role of Wesleyan students.

• Woodrow Wilson Tutoring Partnership

  • Student Coordinator: Daisy Chen and Cara Tratner (wwmstutor@gmail.com) 

    This intervention program serves middle school students who are failing subjects, at risk of retention, and/or in need of general and academic support. Students are identified by their team of teachers and matched one-on-one with Wesleyan students for in-school tutoring. With a major focus on building relationships across the college-middle school gap, tutors assist students with schoolwork, work to identify major issues affecting students motivation, and serve as a general support for building confidence and changing academic performance.