Cornelius Pope made a decision when he was 10 years old that changed his life.

He was walking to Burney-Harris-Lyons Middle School when he stopped to visit Barbara Archibald's office and started to get help from the Athens Tutorial Program.

For the next eight years, Pope - one of more than 6,000 students helped by the Athens Tutorial Program since it began in 1981 - returned and got help with math and high school term papers.

There's no celebration planned for the program's 25th birthday, just the same after-school tutoring that's happened for more than two decades now.

Since opening its doors in 1981 in the East Athens Community Center, the program has grown to nine locations, such as the Barber Street homeless shelter, churches and schools.

The main purpose of the program is to help students with their homework, but guest speakers also conduct special programs on drug awareness, self esteem and character traits, such as trust and responsibility.

"We've expanded the program so it's not only tutoring but cultural enrichment activities like field trips and (guest) speakers," said Archibald, who's led the Athens Tutorial Program since 1983.

Most older students come for homework help, she said, while younger students ask for help with reading.

As students learn, they are helped by volunteer tutors, many of them University of Georgia students or faculty.

The program, funded by federal grants, local churches, businesses and the Athens Housing Authority, is free for children, about 90 percent of which come from low-income homes.

Archibald didn't know how many elementary and middle school kids would show for their regular tutoring sessions last week, since classes let out early for parent-teacher conferences.

But the the two-room center, located in the Miriam Moore Community Service Center, filled with students as it always does.

One of them was Monsha Smith, a Gaines Elementary fifth-grader who comes to the center on Tuesdays and Thursdays to study math, science, social studies, spelling and reading with Lauren McGehee, a UGA sophomore who began tutoring two months ago to fill a class requirement.

Monsha practiced multiplication tables in preparation for the state's Criterion-Referenced Competency Test, which she must pass to be promoted.

"I've been coming for two years, and my grades have gone up in science and reading," she said.

For Pope, who grew up in the Broadview and Rocksprings neighborhoods, finding a mentor was as important as finding help with his studies.

"Growing up in those neighborhoods, sometimes people didn't look at school work as their first priority," said Pope, now 33. "There were fights and drugs. I was fortunate I had a lot of people to guide me."

The program helped Pope earn higher grades and taught him the importance of achieving goals, something that he still uses.

The Atlanta resident, now a Clarke Central grad, U.S. Army captain and licensed nurse, is studying to take the LSAT in December and hopes to attend Georgia State University Law School.

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