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The Badger Herald

Independent Student Newspaper Since 1969

The Badger Herald

Independent Student Newspaper Since 1969

The Badger Herald

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PEOPLE prepares children

University of Wisconsin student-mentors spent an afternoon with elementary-aged mentees as a part of the Pre-College Enrichment Opportunity Program for Learning Excellence Prep program Sunday.

A precursor to the PEOPLE program — which involves middle school and high school kids — the PEOPLE Prep program works with elementary school students to encourage them to continue their education after high school.

Tiffany Davis-Baer, PEOPLE Prep academic lead and UW graduate student, said both programs prepare children from economically disadvantaged families for college.

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"The PEOPLE program has been around for a certain amount of years and caters to low economic disadvantaged families of diverse backgrounds," she said. "The idea in the people program is [to] prepare children for college."

Davis-Baer said the mentors and tutors, who spend time with the Madison-area children on a regular basis and lead them on the track to higher education, are also university students.

"The [children] in the PEOPLE Prep program get a mentor and a tutor," she said. "The tutor is an undergraduate from the School of Education department. Their mentor is a PEOPLE scholar [who has] gone through the [PEOPLE] program through middle school, through high school and [is] now in college here at UW-Madison."

Marla Delgado, PEOPLE Prep liaison and UW graduate student, said the main goal of the program is to foster educational success while providing underprivileged children with as many opportunities as possible.

"We want to give them as many options and opportunities as possible," she said. "It's a matter of getting them prepared and ready to be successful at whatever they do after they graduate from high school."

Activities included in the program are aimed at developing a concept of higher education for the youths and helping them bond with one another.

One of the numerous activities planned Sunday for PEOPLE Prep mentees included a tour of a dormitory room in Sellery Residence Hall.

After being asked whether or not he enjoyed the tour of the dorm room, Thaew Nammavong, a 10-year-old fifth grader at Lake View Elementary, said "Yeah, but there could be more room and TVs and video games."

But Nammavong said he would rather spend time with his mentor than play video games.

"I love my mentor," he said. "He's cool with me."

Eder Valle, Nammavong's mentor and UW junior, said it is sometimes difficult to comprehend how important it is for mentors to spend time with the children.

"I'm almost always busy, but I try to set aside time because sometimes, you don't realize that the little time you spend with these kids actually means a lot to them," he said.

Valle said although coming out as a mentor to spend time with his mentee may seem insignificant to him, it will help Nammavong succeed in life.

"One of the main reasons that I came out [even though] it might be insignificant to me, or at least I might think that way, [is because] in the end, it's really something important that will help [Thaew] in life," he said.

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