Amy Kress
Every Tuesday and Thursday, senior Amy Kress, along with other Beacon Hill tutoring volunteers, spends one hour with the elementary and junior high kids of the Beacon Hill complexes. Volunteering typically consists of helping the kids with their math, spelling or reading, but it also includes playing games and eating pretzels at snack time.
“We just kind of hang out with the kids,” Kress said. “We help them out with homework and play with them.”
As director of the Beacon Hill tutoring program, Kress is responsible for getting snacks, making flyers and setting up students as volunteers.
In high school, Kress was part of a similar program called Clubhouse, and she even started her own chapter in Dayton, Ohio. Kress has been a volunteer at Beacon Hill since her freshman year, and she became the director as a sophomore.
“When I first took over the program, I felt inadequate,” she said.
However, volunteer and junior Nicholas Brouwer disagreed.
“She's really creative,” he said. “She makes up games for the kids and they love them.”
Brouwer described Kress as a caring person and a responsible director.
Kress, who is an art major, said the highlight for her is coloring with the kids. She said playing with the kids is a great way to get away from the stress of school for an hour while making a difference.
Beacon Hill tutoring lends itself to relationship building between kids and volunteers through games and tutoring. According to Kress, many of the children come from broken homes with few or no stable influences.
“It's a great place,” Brouwer said. “Tthe kids really need the positive role models.”
“The kids love it,” said Terry Landers, the certified occupancy specialists at Beacon Hill. “There's a bunch of them and if they didn't love it, they wouldn't come.”
Beacon Hill college volunteers are asked to commit to tutor one day a week for the duration of the semester. Kress said she especially likes the program because it is a small commitment with a high benefit. The one-hour commitment each week provides kids with tutoring, provides volunteers with an opportunity to impact the community and to form friendships with the kids and provides both parties with fun activities.
“I think it's a good idea to get involved and see what it's like outside the ivory tower once in a while,” Kress joked.
To get involved in the Beacon Hill tutoring program, contact Amy Kress at 439-7674 or e-mail her at abkress@hillsdale.edu.