Gearing up for a service-oriented semester: KIPP New Orleans Leadership Primary

Dr. McLachlan, one of the pharmacology professors, approached our program about a unique opportunity that has come up at the KIPP: New Orleans Leadership Primary charter school. His daughter is assistant principal there and mentioned that they are in dire need of volunteers to help make everyday run just a little bit more smoothly. About 15 of us from the program signed up to help out, and on Friday, Janurary 18th, 7 of us headed out to the school for a brief orientation.

Located on the edge of Marigny, KIPP Leadership Primary is a charter school that is part of a host of national KIPP schools. New Orleans itself has more than a few, and this one opened about two years ago. The school only has kindergarteners and first graders, but expands every year with one more class. Unlike many other charter schools, KIPP recruits students from all over the city; no testing or raffle is involved in the process, and they encourage anyone to sign up. The school uses metrics to determine where students are and how they are expected to perform as far in the future as the SAT and ACT. Based on the needs of the individual, teachers create a curriculum that helps each student on his/her own level so that he/she can "learn excellence" from the get-go.

After giving us a brief overview of the school and its mission, Assitant Principal McLachlan and her colleagues gave us an introduction to the types of tasks we will be doing. Teachers at the school work 10-12 hour days on average: leading classes, meeting with students individually, talking to families, planning for future classes. Each teacher is incredibly involved in the success of each student, but that leads to long days with even more work after the school-day is over. A lot of the teachers need help with administrative type work- from photocopying to helping out with general tasks, which is where we as volunteers come in.

Principal McLachlan then gave us a tour of the school allowing us to visit every classroom. It was amazing to see both how young and invested each teacher is. They each have their own, unique style, but in every classroom we saw incredibly engaged, loving, curious children. Although the building the school is in is far too large for the two grades it currently holds, and although it looks a bit run-down, each classroom and hallway that the students encounter is filled with bright colors, hands-on materials, and warmth. The teachers and students were so excited to see us, thanking us with songs and class chants and running up to give us hugs as we passed.

I'm really excited to help out at the KIPP Leadership Primary school. I'm currently applying to AmeriCorps jobs in New Orleans for next year, and I definitely want to be involved in either a public health or education position. Therefore it was really neat to see just how a charter school functions in this city that is dominated by these types of schools. Although I won't get a chance to interact consistently with the students at KIPP in terms of the type of work I'll be doing, I think it's incredibly important to come in with excitement and positive energy to help out in any way possible. I look forward to it!