Thirty-five elementary school students will stream into the Fraim Boys and Girls Club in Wilmington to meet their University of Delaware mentors on Monday, Sept. 8.

Every semester, approximately 80 UD elementary teacher education students begin their first experience service learning by mentoring at the Latin American Community Center (LACC) or the Fraim Boys and Girls Club, both in the city.

As part of their course requirements for Human Development: Grades K-8 (EDUC 205), freshmen and sophomores mentor one or two children a week for an hour. Together they will work on homework, play board games, create arts and crafts or play in the gym.

Coursework, coupled with service learning, provides students the opportunity to analyze the physical, linguistic, cognitive and socio-emotional development of children and adolescents in classrooms and other settings. They also acquire a better understanding of the role families, peers, and schools play in influencing healthy development.

Click here to read the entire UDaily article.