tutorial

July, 2001

ATP at Barnet Shoals Elementary

Amanda and Edward

The Athens Tutorial Program has begun a program in conjunction with the After School Program (ASP) at Barnett Shoals Elementary School. ASP co-directors Shelia Neely-Norman and Connie Mashburn report that up to 15 students have participated in the program. Teachers recommend students who can benefit from the program and give them work to do with their tutor. Tutors also help with homework.

Students benefit from the extra attention. Parents are surprised that it is a free service, and some parents have recommended students to participate as well. Students and tutors work either in the library or the computer lab. Thus far, all tutors have been UGA students.

We visited with second-grader Amanda Gilbert, age 8, and her tutor Edward Mundy, who is majoring in animation at the UGA Art School. A typical session starts with homework, often reading or spelling, then moves on to other things after that is done. Amanda says she doesn’t like math, but her best subject is science. She would like to become a scientist and study the earth, sun, and moon. She likes the help she receives from her tutor.

Edward says he has fun tutoring and that the kids are entertaining. He reports the students appreciate having the tutors around. He also commented that working in the community in this way makes Athens seem like more than just UGA.

Center Director, Mrs. Norman
Center Director Mrs. Norman

Mr. William Harris Retires from ATP Board of Directors

William Harris has the rare distinction of being a native Athenian. Born in Athens on March 23, 1921, he attended East Athens Elementary School, where his mother was a teacher. His mother and father separated when he was only two and he grew up with his grandfather as his mentor. “I never heard my grandfather raise his voice, yell at anyone or curse. And as a consequence, my children never heard me curse. Now, I didn’t say I never cursed, I said my children never heard me curse. Being in the army I have to say I did pick up some bad language, but I left it with the army.” Because at that time high school ended with the 11th grade, Mr. Harris graduated at age 16 from Athens High Industrial School and entered Morehouse College in Atlanta as a French major. Why French? “Because it was easy! I had a very good English teacher, Mrs. Parker, in high school. Once you knew, really learned English, French was easy - just learn a new vocabulary. Actually, I planned on becoming a foreign correspondent journalist in France or Haiti, but World War II came along and changed my plans.”

Mr. Harris was teaching in Hart County when he was drafted into the army in 1942. After basic and field artillery training, he shipped out on December 16th on the Queen Elizabeth. It was a grave ocean crossing as he and his shipmates listened to reports of the Battle of the Bulge. When he returned to the states, he used two years of his GI Bill to attend Howard University where he studied law, only to realize he had no interest in pursuing a career in that field. He then decided to make the army his career and re-enlisted. He served in Korea during that conflict and missed going to Viet Nam when he retired in 1965 as a First Sergeant.

Back in the states and with two years left on the GI Bill, he went to Laval University in Quebec City to study French. After that, with a son also in college, he needed to get back to earning a living. He started out as a substitute teacher in a Kentucky junior high school. He finished up his teaching career at Southern High in Louisville in 1982.

In 1985, Mr. Harris returned to his home town of Athens where he married his second wife, Juanita. The two of them had started first grade together. But, they found out they could get along better separated and are still good friends.

So, how did he get involved with the Athens Tutorial Program? Before leaving Louisville, a good friend started a tutoring program and asked him to volunteer as a tutor. He really liked the interaction with the children so when he returned to Athens he asked around about a tutorial program and was directed to the Athens Tutorial Program and our Executive Director, Mrs. Barbara Archibald. He began tutoring at the Rock Springs Center and later became a Board of Directors member. When the center opened at Clarke Central, he moved there to tutor in French. Eventually Cedar Shoals opened a center and since that was closer to home, he moved to that center, where he helped out the director and continued to tutor the students in French.