College junior Dominique De Armond is 20 years old and already has 100 children. De Armond, the coordinator of the the Sayre-Beacon After-School Program for elementary school students, struggles to keep her kids single-file on their daily three-block walk from Hamilton Elementary School to Sayre High School.
The program is free and open to all Philadelphia children and is now managed by the University.
Today, however, some of them are acting out of line, and she must reprimand them. She despises the role of disciplinarian, but being strict is part of her job.
A Beacon
After a long day of being told to "quiet down" and "sit still," 100 elementary school students make their way to Sayre High School.
Most of those students come from nearby Bryant and Hamilton elementary schools, where more than three quarters of students come from low-income families. Staying at school, however, keeps them off the streets and in the classroom.
"The streets are dangerous," said Kathy Holly, a Penn employee and mother of a West Philadelphia student.
As a single mother of three, Holly must work full-time and cannot stay at home with her daughter when she gets back from school.
The idea of a Beacon -- an institution that becomes a community center after school ends -- was a perfect match for these elementary school students and their community.
"It gives them something to do up until 8 p.m. as opposed to being in the streets or getting into trouble," said West Philadelphia resident Quansheila Clay, whose two daughters, Chyteerahand and Nyteerah, both participate in the after-school program.
Sayre High School is open an extra five to six hours every weekday as well as eight hours on Saturdays to accommodate the Beacon program.
"I really commend the program," Clay said. "The kids love it, they can't get enough of it."
An academically based after-school program is one of many activities offered at Sayre and the other 21 Beacon community centers in Philadelphia.
De Armond, head of the academic program, is responsible for the welfare of about 100 students, 40 tutors and five elementary school teachers. She spends more than 40 hours a week at Sayre.
The after-school program is divided into three components: after-school academics, tutoring and recreation.
The Kids
Like most elementary school students, De Armond's are both rowdy and excited.
After she announces recess time, the students eagerly run outside and play with balls provided by the program, as the staff members keep a close watch.
Inside the cafeteria, students are kept away from junk food and munch on salads and apples and drink milk while talking to staff members and their peers.
After eating, some of the younger girls jump rope, while the older ones giggle and ask to play with their tutor's hair.
Soon, the children are back in line, sorted by grade and gender. They walk to their classrooms, where they will participate in academic activities, such as creating a literary journal.
They start every session with a warm-up exercise known as "the daily hug." They are instructed to say something nice about themselves and the person sitting next to them.
This activity serves both to ease children back into a classroom environment and increase self- esteem.
The Staff
The tutors sit quietly in the Sayre cafeteria as they wait for the students to arrive.
When they do, the tutors are bombarded with hugs and smiles.
One reason for the smiles may be that, unlike during the school day, there are only four students per tutor, allowing for significant individual attention.
College freshman and tutor Blanchard Diavua wanted to partake in community-service and work-study programs.
The after-school program "provides the opportunity to combine the two."
Diavua hopes to act as a role model, as well as being a tutor.
"I don't think they see enough black males in general going out and getting a college education," he said.
Many of the students have anger-management problems and are several grade levels behind in both reading and math, De Armond said.
The diverse undergraduate group is teaching students from schools that are more than 98 percent black. This, De Armond says, can lead to cultural barriers.
"There are definitely initial obstacles to overcome because kids look at [tutors] and see them as different," she said.
Still, she feels that the children benefit from the diverse staff.
It gives them an "outlook into other cultures, other ways of living and other types of people," she said.
Despite the frustrating moments, the tutors credit their continuous involvement to the types of relationships they form with the children.
"These kids are amazing" De Armond said. The program has "characterized my entire Penn experience."
Parents, as well, are very pleased with the staff.
"It goes beyond just helping the children after school. They're trying to make a change as opposed to just having a job," Clay said.
Yet the program staff, children and their parents are not the only ones who have discovered the program's potential.
The University
Penn's future is "tied to our local community," said Ira Harkavy, Director of the Center for Community Partnerships, the liason between Penn, the Beacon program and the community.
Through the center, Penn provides vital resources that benefit both students and the local community at large and has control of $425,000 annually in city funds, said Chris Bower, who is head of the entire Sayre-Beacon program. Penn contributes $97,000 a year to the after-school program alone. But officials say it's not nearly enough to accomplish Penn's goals.
The University hopes to open a free health clinic on the Sayre campus to be staffed by medical students and faculty.
Other nonprofit managing organizations "hire less-qualified staff, pay them less, and they don't get as much done," he said.
Parents have noticed the difference since Penn took over, as well. Clay said that recent additions include a family night at the school.
After seeing the results of programs like Sayre-Beacon, as well as the progress made by the University-supported Penn-Alexander School, the University is now working with the Philadelphia School District to open a new high school in West Philadelphia in September 2006.
Penn students may soon even teach classes at the high school, Harkavy said.
But all the programs add up to one thing: individual support for students who frequently get little attention.
"I've seen the children grow in just a month and a half," tutor Diavua said.
He added that one student recently told him that he was one day going to drive a Hummer.
When Diavua asked him how he planned to pay for the car, the student replied, "I'm going to go to college."
How to get involved - The Sayre-Beacon program is looking for assistance with both summer and school-year programs, especially the youth basketball league - E-mail the program coordinator at darmond@sas.upenn.edu
