Caledonia Argus

AmeriCorps worker looks forward to helping students

Posted: 10/23/02

by Andrew Miller
Argus News Reporter

A commitment to public service can sometimes land a person a long way from home. For Katie LeBarron, an AmeriCorps member and the newest addition to the Caledonia Community Education staff, the commitment landed her in Caledonia, far removed from her hometown of Stillwater.

LeBarron, a graduate of Stillwater High School and an undergraduate at Winona State University, decided to take a yearlong hiatus from her studies and work with AmeriCorps. Majoring in Communication, Arts, and Literature, she hopes to someday teach English at either the junior high or senior high level. Her tenure as an AmeriCorps member at Caledonia Community Education is providing her with an experience that will prime her for a career as a teacher.

ìI wanted to take a year off school, but I didnít want to work at a dead-end job,î Lebarron said. ìThe position here benefits me in a lot of ways and it gives back to the community. It was all pluses in my eyes.î

Her duties at Caledonia High School center around mentoring, tutoring, and service learning. She is at present the contact person for the Caring Connections program, in which high school students serve as mentors to elementary students, and she is hard at work assembling a group of student volunteers for National Make a Difference Day on October 26. She will begin tutoring students in the near futureñ the plan is to take on a total of ten students from grades four through eight.

ìI hope I make a difference here,î LeBarron commented. ìThe AmeriCorps motto is ëgetting things done,í so I hope to get things done. I also hope to spark interest in Americorps among some of the older high school students; maybe theyíll see what Iím doing and look a little further into it as a possibility for themselves.î

The experience so far has been positive, LeBarron said. Now living in Winona, she has been able to keep contact with her peers at Winona State, and her transition from a student to a staff member in the education system has gone smoothly.

ìThe staff at Caledonia High are open to a lot of different things and ideas, and I feel really welcome here,î she said. ìItís a nice town and itís a really nice school.î

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