- The Cavalier Daily - University of Virginia's Student Newspaper

Friday the University's amphitheater was full of bubbles, paint and clean mud ... all in the name of education. The event was organized by the University's new service organization, Jumpstart. Jumpstart is a national program that was initially founded at Yale in 1993. The focus of the program is to build language skills in young children to enable them to grow as informed and successful individuals. Named "Jumpstart for a Day," the event invited pre-schools from Charlottesville and the surrounding Albemarle County to participate in learning carnivals.

Jumpstart was founded at the University through the work of alumna Sarah Rude. Rude said she wanted to bring Jumpstart to the University last year after working with the program at Jackson State University for several years.

"I wanted to establish a branch of this program within Charlottesville in order to create a bridge between the community and the University," Rude said. "I proposed the idea to Patricia Lampkin, the vice president for student affairs, and she was very receptive to the idea of the national program becoming an organization at the University."

Students who choose to volunteer for the program are committed to one year of service for the group, generally engaging in around 300 hours of service in local pre-schools. The 46 University volunteers serve as mentors to students, spending about 15 hours per week running academic learning sessions for young students.

"Most of the students that we work with are children whose lives contain risk factors that lead to challenges in their learning abilities," Rude said. "They could come from abusive families or have an income barrier that inhibits their ability for development and continued education. Our volunteers serve to reduce the ratios of students to teachers in each classroom, and in return, the young children benefit from the individualized attention they are receiving in the classroom."

Not only do the students visit the individual school systems to develop relationships with the children, but the organization also sets up large events within the community which attempt to balance the benefits of education with fun activities that induce learning. These events include providing children with free books through community book distributions and in organizing learning carnivals such as the recent Jumpstart for a Day program.

"We had a large turnout for this event," Rude said. "Eleven out of the 12 pre-school programs from surrounding areas participated in this event, from which 280-300 children were present. Between 50-75 volunteers from diverse organizations around Grounds sponsored individual learning stations at the event, along with around 50 educators and parents who came to enjoy the activities with their kids."

Volunteers used books as learning tools during ordinary activities such as face-painting in order to engage the children's social skills. According to Rude, the programs were cleverly set up to appeal to children at their age while encouraging them to associate learning with having fun.

"Everyone had lots of fun, and I would like to make sure that this program can be a yearly project for Jumpstart," Rude said. "Next year, I'd like to have even more volunteers to allow for continued interaction between the University students and young children"