“Will Barrett has helped establish an environment conducive to learning that promotes a high level of student success and participation in our afterschool STEM club. He brings out the best in the students through his positive words of encouragement.” – Joseph Whiteside, Green Run Elementary School principal.
It was about three in the afternoon and high school junior Will Barrett was busy at school. He was out in the portable carefully setting up the stations that would serve for the day’s lesson. However, while Barrett is a student at Landstown High School, here he was preparing for his time with students at Green Run Elementary.
Barrett is a volunteer for the school’s STEM club, where students come after school and work on a variety of STEM projects, including building the school’s robot for the end-of-the-year citywide competition. For the past three years, Barrett has come once a week to help the students with their work.
His mother is a teacher at the school, and, well, inspired Barrett to lend a hand.
“She was kind of like, ‘Hey…you’re in the academy at Landstown. You know this stuff. You could help them out.’ Hint, hint. Nudge, nudge,” Barrett joked.
While his mom was the reason he started volunteering, Barrett quickly became attached to helping the program.
“It’s a fun program. The kids seem to love it,” Barrett said. “Honestly, I wish I had this opportunity when I was their age. This will already jumpstart them.”
Every week, Barrett comes to the school and works with small groups on various projects. He helps the students with their boards. He sets up all the machinery they need for the day. He also cuts all the metal for the students – so no one gets hurt.
The experience has given him a new found empathy for his own teachers.
“I understand what they’re going through when kids come up to you and say, ‘I don’t understand this’ or ‘Fix this,’” Barret said.
However, most importantly, Barret said that he has become inspired in working with these young minds each week.
“It’s definitely an experience that changed my life,” Barrett said. “I have a new outlook on the experiences these kids are having. I remember being in the fifth-grade and barely taking SOLs on computers. They’re building robots.”
When it’s pointed out that there are plenty of students his own age that are at home after school – hanging out, playing their own video games or, in the case of his Governor’s STEM and Technology Academy classmates, building their own robots, Barrett is indifferent.
His experience yields much greater results.
“I can say I’m going to be changing these kids’ lives – at least I hope I am,” Barrett said. “Not everyone gets that opportunity. If that opportunity knocks at your door, you should take it.”
To find ways you can get involved, visit the division’s Get Connected page at vbschools.com/getconnected and find volunteer opportunities available in VBCPS schools. For more information about the Volunteers in Education program as a whole, visit the page to learn more about the service of VBCPS volunteers.