Booming program takes off

Convincing middle school kids to come to school on Saturday is a hard sell, but Poughkeepsie’s Project Thunder has found a way to teach life skills and provide mentoring in a fun, hands-on environment. Conceived in September of 2006 by Randall Johnson, a local member of the school board and city council, Project Thunder’s mission is to help local sixth, seventh, and eighth graders gain access to the city’s many educational opportunities, whether it’s finding out what a police officer’s job entails, learning how to fight peer pressure, or exploring the area on cultural field trips. Shortly after the project was under way, Johnson discovered that his long-time basketball opponent Kiese Laymon was a professor at Vassar. The two started talking and, suddenly, Project Thunder had a new component – Vassar College.

“There aren’t many programs that open themselves up to kids in Poughkeepsie,” says Laymon. “This just seemed right.” Eve Dunbar, also an assistant professor of English, immediately signed on for the project and, since its inception, half a dozen professors from different disciplines have volunteered to teach on various Saturdays. The program, which meets twice a month, devotes roughly one Saturday to holding the program on campus, giving students the opportunity to experience campus life and to work closely with professors.

The first step was introducing the kids to campus. The group toured the library and academic buildings. In the classroom, they were encouraged to explore their intellectual and personal goals through writing and talking in groups. In a future visit, they’ll also attend a play at the college.

But the students aren’t the only ones doing the learning. “You can get used to spitting out rhetoric or jargon to college students and not having to explain it,” says Laymon. “But the middle school kids ask a question and you’re forced to reexamine the ideas you take for granted, but should probably keep revisiting and reexamining. It’s very humbling.”

“It’s such a different kind of teaching,” adds Dunbar. “You have to make their own experiences speak to the material at hand. It’s rewarding because, when they do get it, they really become interested. This program is incredible because it makes this a space where we can all come to learn. It opens up all of these intellectual resources to even the youngest members of the Poughkeepsie community and encourages them to feel part of this community.”