Once a week, a number of ISU students leave campus to volunteer their time at Kate Mitchell Elementary School.

The volunteer program started three years ago when some in the district noticed a need for supplemental help to meet the demands of the growing population at the school.

“Students need some help developing social skills like how to be a friend and not play roughly,” said Autumn Seiler, an instructional coach at Kate Mitchell. “It was really around unstructured times, like recess and lunch, that we saw the need.”

Seiler said a meeting was called with members of the Kate Mitchell community. One member in attendance was Troy Nesbitt, a pastor at Cornerstone Church in Ames. Nesbitt suggested inviting members of Cornerstone’s college ministry, The Salt Company, to volunteer at the school.

“The other teachers were really interested in the idea,” Seiler said.

When Seiler came to a Salt Company service to share stories from her classroom, she was not really sure how many students would be interested. After the service, she went into another room and waited for students to show up.

“I printed 25 forms and 150 students showed up,” Seiler said. “I was crying. It was just so awesome.”

One of those students was Hannah Leavell, a senior in apparel, merchandising and design. At the time, Leavell didn’t really think she would be interested in volunteering.

“I only went to the info meeting because my friend wanted to go, and I was the one who drove her to Salt that night,” Leavell said. “I could tell right away that this was something God had planned for me, but I tried to come up with every excuse not to do it.”

However, Leavell ended up having an opening in her schedule to work with a kindergarten class.

“I knew a lot of people who really wanted to help and couldn’t find time in their schedules, so I thought I should do some good with the opening in mine,” Leavell said.

During her first year, Leavell grew to love the kids, especially after many of them started calling her “Hannah Montana.” She signed up to help out again this year, and now works in a first grade class. 

She goes in Mondays and Fridays and helps the kids with brainstorming writing topics, sounding out words and sometimes reading to them.

Leavell said the kids sometimes misbehave; however there are things they say or do that can cheer her up for the rest of the day.

“The other day we were reading a story about making cake, and I pointed to one and said it was my favorite. One of the boys looked at me and said, ‘Are you married?’ I told him no and he said, ‘Then why do you like wedding cake?’” Leavell said.

Dan Venteicher, senior in dairy science, also volunteers at Kate Mitchell. Although instead of helping with a class, Venteicher works with one student.

“Initially I was a lunch and recess buddy, but then Sarah [Smith, of Cornerstone Church] emailed me saying that there was a kid named Kaleb who needed more attention and asked if I would want to be his buddy,” Venteicher said.

During Venteicher’s first few visits to Kate Mitchell, Kaleb was initially shy. However Venteicher said he noticed a change in Kaleb the past few weeks.

“When I first got there, he wasn’t always the best about following directions, but he’s become a better listener,” Venteicher said. “He’s also started to give me hugs when I get there and when I leave. He’s such a nice kid.”

Seiler is thankful to have men like Venteicher volunteer to help out at the school.

“One of the things we were hoping for when we started this was for guys to sign up to give the boys a good male role model, which is something they might not have at home,” Seiler said.

Smith, the former college women’s ministry associate at Cornerstone Church, enjoys seeing the college students getting involved with the community.

“Their biggest motivation is coming out of their heart to serve and love others, and this is a tangible way for the students to show that,” Smith said.

Seiler said the teachers at Kate Mitchell compliment the students for the professional courteousy with the kids, and never has a teacher complained about any of the volunteers.

“It’s not just helping the kids. The college students are getting just as much out of it as they are,” Seiler said.

Working with Kaleb has given Venteicher a new appreciation for teachers.

“I’m only there for an hour a week, but the teachers work with these kids all day, every day,” Venteicher said. “They deserve kudos.”