volunteering

A Handy Trick for Learning to Read

Posted on 03/4/2013 by | Washington D.C. | Comments

Volunteering“Aoccdrning to rscheearch…” We all bring different experiences and backgrounds to our reading.  Our comprehension skills, vocabulary and language fluency all factor into what we take away from the series of letters and spaces on the page in front of us.  But the foundations of how we decode those characters comes from our learned ability to translate “letters into sounds” and “sounds into words.” And so, most of us can “read” the subtitle of this blog as “According to research…” …

Experience Corps Chicago Driven by Passionate Latino Leaders

Posted on 02/28/2013 by | All the news that matters for Illinoisans over 50. | Comments

Your LifeAARP Experience Corps Chicago aims to improve child literacy rates among young Chicago Latinos. As the office gears to open in March, Myrna Torres takes her position as Experience Corps Chicago’s new Branch Director. Tomas Revollo, a retired principal and educational thought leader, volunteers his time and expertise to connect Experience Corps with current Chicago Public School principals. Both have a deep interest in serving the Latino community, and that interest is invaluable in completing EC’s mission.    If you …

Meet the Springfield Intern

Posted on 02/27/2013 by | All the news that matters for Illinoisans over 50. | Comments

Your LifeHey everyone, my name is Jon and I am the new intern at the AARP Illinois legislative office in Springfield. I attend the University of Illinois at Springfield and am majoring in Political Science with a minor in Anthropology. I grew up in Peotone and moved to Steger to live with my grandmother about ten years ago when my grandfather died. I then went on to attend Prairie State College in Chicago Heights, where I studied Political Science and became …

Horse Sense Volunteering

Posted on 02/19/2013 by | Volunteering | Comments

Volunteering | Your LifeFran Burns of Baltimore County, Maryland, grew up on a horse farm, riding and showing horses. She recalls that the only time in her life when she wasn’t around horses was during college at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she studied broadcast journalism. After many years of working in the world of radio, and later, dental sales, Fran retired in 2006 to her horse farm in northern Maryland where she started volunteering with organizations that were …

Job Hunting 2.0

Posted on 02/15/2013 by | All the news that matters for Illinoisans over 50. | Comments

Your LifeHello again from Allie the intern! My dad is on the job hunt. I know what you’re thinking: so what? In this economy, he joins many millions on this ever-changing quest (including his daughter). But he’s in a particularly tricky situation. An accident in September of 2009 left my dad with a crushed left hand. After six surgeries (and probably more in the future) with the best hand surgeon in Chicago, his hand lost the ring finger and has extremely limited …

Celebrating 100 Days of School on the Wall

Posted on 02/12/2013 by | Washington D.C. | Comments

VolunteeringToday my class of Experience Corps students celebrated their 100th day of school!  When I got to school the teacher had placed “100th day of school” signs all over the walls.  To celebrate, the children made crowns with a “100” featured prominently on the front, and decorated their headband with 100 hearts, numbers, triangles, dots, letters—whatever they were moved to create.  And even if they didn’t get 100 “somethings” down on the paper, when the adults stapled the bands to fit …

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