Learning Campus Receives Grant for Transportation

Learning Campus, a tutoring program at Wilson College, has received a grant of $6,238 from the non-profit organization The Foundation for Enhancing Communities (TFEC).

With the purpose of providing immigrant children access to education and get out of the poverty cycle, a group of Wilson students, staff, and faculty established the Learning Campus. The program has created weekly tutoring sessions and workshops for immigrant children and their parents from three elementary schools in Chambersburg: Benjamin Chambers, Andrew Buchanan and Thaddeus Stevens.

The Learning Campus had continuously sought funds from both inside and outside campus to create more opportunities for the immigrant children in the area. Recently,  TFEC decided to sponsor the program for transportations. According to Brie Burdge, Director of the Learning Campus Program, “In the past, a community partner [and] the Lincoln Intermediate Unit 12 had funding for us. However, they had a budget cut, so they could not give us money anymore. This grant is the first one we got by ourselves.” The program members, cooperating with the Advancement Office, started their applications in September 2016 and got approved in late October 2016.

The one-time grant will be used for two semesters until November 2017, during which the Learning Campus Program collaborates with the Myers Bus Company to provide buses for the kids from their elementary schools to the after-school tutoring sessions at Wilson College, and then to their homes. The grant gives opportunities to immigrant students and the program staff to work together and achieve academic success. Burdge and her supervisors Dean of Students Mary Beth Williams and Associate Professor Chair of Education Lynn Newman will together manage the sponsorship.

If you are a passionate volunteer who wants to contribute to the Wilson community, do not hesitate to register to the Learning Campus Program by contacting Burdge by email at brie.burdge@wilson.edu.