SEEDS: Students for Education, Empowerment, & Direct Service
LASER opportunities and history of the program
We are currently accepting applications only for the LASER Intern Program. To apply for this program, please read the descriptions below, then visit the Google Docs Form. To access this form, FIRST log into Google Docs using your Reed Kerberos user name and password, THEN click on the application page. (Note: If you are logged into Google using a non-Reed user name, you will not be able to view the applicaiton.) Applications are due by Monday, February 6th at 5pm. Questions or need help with the application process? Please email Kathryn, the SEEDS LASER staff for the Intern Program.
Mentors
Mentoring is a rewarding year-long commitment that qualifies for the Federal Work Study Program. Each Reed student is matched with a Lane student. Each pair spends one hour a week together after school. There is no set curriculum; the goal of the program from Lane's perspective is to provide each Lane student with a responsible, consistent, fun adult who takes the time to focus on him or her and his or her life. The goal of the program from Reed's perspective is to provide its students with an opportunity to get off campus, gain insight about educations and social issues, and put their education to a practical use. Reedies often find the experience enjoyable, touching, and thought-provoking. Reed students in the program meet a few times a semester to discuss their experiences at Lane as well as their thoughts on education, social justice, and policy concerning the two. Lane is close to Reed. It is off the 19 bus line and less than 3 miles away.
Mentoring takes place on Mondays and Wednesdays from either 4-5pm or 5-6pm, so potential mentors must be able to be on the Lane school campus during one of those hours. Training will take place on Saturday, September 17th.
Those students who receive FWS as part of their financial aid package can get paid through the Off-Campus FWS Community Service Internship program, but you must complete ALL the required paperwork BEFORE you can be paid. Please visit the Off-Campus Federal Work Study Page to learn about the process and to download the required paperwork.
Interns
The Reed College LASER interns are chosen through a written application and interview. Interns are selected for working in a specific classroom with varying teachers and subjects based upon their own experience and academic interests. The interns participate in a short orientation and meet weekly to check in, maintain a support network, discuss educational issues, and/or plan larger activities. Most interns travel to Lane once a week although some choose to volunteer more to make solid connections with Lane students and to learn the inner workings of the school. After one semester of interning, Reed students have the opportunity to design and teach their own after-school class in Lane's SUN Community after-school program. Occasional weekend or evening trainings will also be provided. At the trainings, interns will gain knowledge and awareness about issues of public education and diversity as well as effective skills for working with those issues. Lane is close to Reed. It is off the 19 bus line and less than 3 miles away.
Those students who receive FWS as part of their financial aid package can get paid through the Off-Campus FWS Community Service Internship program, but you must complete ALL the required paperwork BEFORE you can be paid. Please visit the Off-Campus Federal Work Study Page to learn about the process and to download the required paperwork.
History
At the beginning of spring semester 2001 the volunteer office coordinator at Harriet Tubman Middle School informed several Reed interns of the school's dire need for one-on-one mentors. A list had been compiled of over 90 Tubman students who were placed, or had requested to be placed, on a mentor waiting list due to their academic, social, or disciplinary problems. The Reed-Tubman partnership responded immediately to this need in two ways. First, the partnership's yearlong interns volunteered to each mentor a student once a week in addition to their already pledged commitment to work as teachers' aides and team-teach after-school classes.
Second, the partnership advertised at Reed College for new volunteers to mentor a minimum of one student for one hour, once a week. After a short application and interview process, six committed Reed students were hired to volunteer at Harriet Tubman as part of the partnership's new satellite mentor program. The mentors were given a tour of Harriet Tubman led by the Vice principal, Carla Sosanya, on February 20-21, 2001, and began mentoring the following Monday. The program continued and has shown great success. Each mentor was responsible for structuring each hour-long session with the Harriet Tubman students. Focus ranges from academic help and tutoring to simply providing a stable and consistent older figure in the students' lives. The mentors wrote a short weekly summary of their individual sessions to ensure a level of professionalism throughout their relationship with the Tubman students as well as maintaining a feeling of cohesiveness within the larger Reed-Tubman partnership. In 2007, we moved the parternship to Lane Middle School and have continued the program in a similar format.
LASER overview