MFS EC Mentor in Gresham Outlook

The Gresham Outlook wrote a lovely feature about Peggy Armstrong, an MFS AARP Experience Corps mentor at Hall Elementary School!

“Peggy Armstrong, a 71 year-old retired fabric buyer, isn’t spending her golden years parked in front of the television. For the past decade, she’s spent about 10 hours per week at Hall Elementary School helping kids improve their reading skills.

“It’s satisfying. It’s enlightening,” Armstrong says.

It’s an often-cited axiom in education that if children aren’t reading well by third grade, it will be difficult for them to catch up, be successful in school and graduate.

Enter the AARP Foundation Experience Corps.

Experience Corps brings older volunteers into schools to help students in kindergarten through third grade who need a little more time and support in learning to read.

The volunteers are a welcome help because some classrooms are overcrowded and teachers can’t provide as much individual help to each student as they’d like.

“There’s a great need for it,” says Armstrong, “the schools need so much.”

Thanks to Peggy Armstrong for sharing her thoughts for this article, and to Maruska Lynch closely with the school, paper, and volunteers to schedule and coordinate this!