CAMARILLO : Volunteer Tutors Sought for Project

Amy Reineman said the biggest challenge she has faced as a volunteer for the Camarillo Tutoring Project was getting her student to talk.

Reineman began meeting with 9-year-old Rocio Bravo last year.

“At first, she smiled at me a lot,” Reineman said.

Rocio, a fourth-grader at Valle Lindo School, is the daughter of Mexican farm workers. But Reineman said the problem was not with Rocio’s ability to speak English.

“It’s just that she wasn’t sure enough of herself to talk very much,” Reineman said.

One of the greatest benefits for children who participate in the Camarillo Tutoring Project, which is in its second year, is the bond that they form with their adult tutors, said Norma Maidel, one of the leaders of the project.

Teachers nominate children for the program, which has about 40 tutors spread among three Camarillo schools. Most children are tutored in reading and math.

“They come to us for a variety of reasons,” Maidel said. “Maybe they’re coming to school really unhappy in the mornings.”

Or, as in the case of Rocio, whose mother and father work six days a week, parents may not be able to spend much time alone with the child, Maidel said.

Reineman, a retired school office worker, said that before she could start tutoring Rocio in reading, she had to draw her out. For two months, Reineman spent most of the weekly one-hour sessions just talking to the girl.

Rocio’s grades have improved, school staff said. But the biggest difference has been in her personality, they said.

Rocio Bravo was named for a small Mexican flower that is closed in the mornings and opens in the afternoons, according to Margarita Bravo, the girl’s mother.

“She’s very nice,” Rocio said of Reineman. “She gives me presents,” she said, holding up a piece of chocolate that Reineman had given her. “She’s helping me with my reading.”

Most of the tutors in the project, which was begun by a group from Trinity Presbyterian Church, are senior citizens like Reineman.

But leaders of the nondenominational program hope to attract high school and college students and others whose schedules will allow them to go to the schools after classes. Ventura County residents interested in volunteering with the Camarillo Tutoring Project should call Sarah Beth Tennison at 482-2285.