MIHS student Diana Guzman works on a math problem with a student. Guzman is a Community Cat at City Park Elementary School.
As Mary Julian Renz’s first-grade students go through their morning routine at City Park Elementary School, a young woman guides two girls out into the hallway where they begin a short math lesson. They sit on the floor with white boards and markers to practice addition and subtraction.
The leader of this group is Diana Guzman, a City Park alumna, student at Morris Innovative High School and a Community Cat for Renz’s classroom.
The Community Cats program began as a way for teachers to get more support in their classrooms during the day. Volunteers — including parents, high school and college students and other members of the community — come into teachers’ classrooms once or twice a week to read with students, work with small groups or provide other instructional aid to teachers.
“It’s a great way to get the community involved in our schools,” said Alice Ensley,
Diana Guzman volunteers in Mary Julian Renz’s classroom.
primary district trainer for Literacy Collaborative and coordinator of the Community Cats program. “Any opportunity for teachers and students to get more support is so beneficial.”
Twenty-nine students from MIHS have participated in the program, volunteering at Roan School, City Park School and Westwood School. Many of the MIHS students are involved in the school’s translation academy and also translate at parent-teacher conferences and other events for schools throughout the district.
Paige Watts, who coordinates the Community Cats program for MIHS, said the experience is beneficial not only for the elementary school students and teachers, but also for the high school students who volunteer.
“It’s getting the students out there and getting them to feel valued,” Watts said, noting that the high schoolers act as role models for the younger students just as the younger students build the high schoolers’ confidence in themselves.
Renz said having Guzman in her class has helped her students by lowering the student-teacher ratio in the classroom and by allowing for more individualized teaching opportunities. She often asks Guzman to read with students who may not get a lot of practice at home, and Renz said the experience has “boosted their fluency and their self esteem.”
“She’s very self-assured and polite and respectful,” Renz said of Guzman. “She’s just a good role-model for our students.”
For Guzman, her role as a Community Cat is all about helping people and spending time giving back to her old elementary school. That’s why she continues to volunteer with a smile and often with an added flourish — on Valentine’s Day, for example, she brought treats for the entire class.
“I love helping others,” she said. “It’s something I really enjoy doing. I love teaching the students and being around them and meeting new people.”
— Mimi Ensley, Dalton Public Schools Contributor
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