Daniel Becker, LaMar Gibson and Skyler Sully are volunteering through Let's Get Ready, a nonprofit program that originated in New York City. The Delaware program is sponsored by Let's Get Ready, Valero's Delaware City Refinery and the Colonial School District and is offered at William Penn High in New Castle.
The program site director is 2007 UD graduate Antonia De Luz, who majored in English with a minor in Black American Studies and is a member of AmeriCorps. She said working with students and helping them get the resources they need to be successful after high school and encouraging them to continue their education is important to her.
“Let's Get Ready helps deserving students get into college, and gives college students an opportunity to teach in urban schools,” De Luz said.
Becker graduated from UD last May with a bachelor's degree in English education, and William Penn High is like a second home to him. He graduated from there in 2003, is tutoring there this summer and will return to teach freshman English in August.
Becker was attracted to Let's Get Ready because it teaches students about the SAT who otherwise would not get help. “Students are taught the SAT from top to bottom,” he said. “It's an ideal teaching environment in which the students volunteer their time to be taught and teachers volunteer their time to teach, effectively creating a student-teacher relationship that is not required but desired.”
Let's Get Ready is an “exceptional program,” he said, “and can help close the educational gap.”
Sully, a 2007 UD graduate with a degree in computer science, works for TechniData America as a programmer. He decided to volunteer for Let's Get Ready to benefit the students he coaches and said he believes that helping people find their goals and implementing them is important.
Gibson is a junior at UD who is majoring in English with a concentration in Ethnic and Cultural Studies. This summer he is a research assistant to Yasser Payne, assistant professor of Black American Studies at UD.
He volunteered for Let's Get Ready to encourage students to take their education seriously and to understand how education applies to their lives. Besides helping students prepare for SATs, Gibson said he talks to the students about college and life after high school.
Her Let's Get Ready experience is an “opportunity to interact with a great group of students who have the potential to achieve a great deal,” he said. “All they need is a small push in the right direction.”
“Valero is committed to providing resources to local communities and educational programs in need of support,” Valero spokesperson Lisa J. Lindsey said. “We're excited to be able to partner with Let's Get Ready for another year. Let's Get Ready provides youth with the skills they need to achieve an education beyond high school, which is so critical for many of today's fastest-growing jobs.”
Article by Sue Moncure
Photos by Kathy F. Atkinson