The ASUO is shifting its focus to a new outreach effort that includes four volunteer programs to get students involved in the community.
ASUO Outreach Associate Gabe Sitowski said that in order to help students discover the available opportunities, the ASUO held a meeting last week to introduce four existing programs to interested students: Start Making A Reader Today (SMART), Pathfinders, Bolder Options and Lunch Buddies.
SMART sends volunteers to selected schools for one hour a week, where they read with two at-risk children in kindergarten through third grade, said Liz Degner, South Valley area manager for SMART.
One of the most apparent effects of the program, Degner said, is that participation often changes students’ attitudes.
Some students will have bad attitudes in the classroom before connecting with a SMART volunteer, she said. But, “After they work with volunteers, their self-esteem increases and they start displaying a better attitude about being at school.”
The goal is for every child to work with two volunteers per week. But with more than 950 children in the program and about 900 volunteers — many of whom work more than the one hour required — some children aren’t receiving their two visits.
Degner said the program needs about 300 more volunteers to make sure every child is fully served.
Options extend beyond third grade, and a few programs offer guidance to older youths. Committed Partners for Youth directs two of these — Pathfinders, which is set up for middle school children, and Bolder Options, which is for older youths who have been through the court system.
Through group and individual activities, Pathfinders guides at-risk middle school students. Mentors have one-on-one contact with their students, as well as monthly meetings with the other mentors, said Melinda Hoder, the program’s coordinator. Not only that, but both mentors and students participate in group activities, which can range from rock climbing to pizza parties.
In total, the time commitment is about 12 to 15 hours a month.
Bolder Options — targeted at youths who have had run-ins with the juvenile court system — requires a bit more of a time commitment, Hoder said. The program asks mentors to provide four hours per week, three weeks out of every four.

It also asks that mentors be at least 20 years old, because the youth involved are somewhat older, between the ages of 13 and 18.
Bolder Options is a one-on-one monitoring program that focuses on developing skills within youth.
“They do a lot of just personal hanging out, just getting to know you, recreational type activities,” said Susan Walsh, the program’s coordinator.
Split into two separate paths, both of which require a yearlong commitment, the program has different activities for different situations.
For those in residential treatment, Bolder Options directs a running program. Mentors athletically train with the youth, and the commitment begins in January.
The other route is called the skills track, which is for those who are still living at home. The skills themselves can be within four categories: Intellectual, the arts, athletics or outdoor pursuits, Hoder said.
“We … try to facilitate them working on skills they showed talent with when they were younger and then perhaps dropped when they were older,” she said.
Students can get involved with the skills track portion of Bolder Options on an ongoing basis, but must still commit for the entire year.
The fourth program, Lunch Buddies, is for at-risk children in grades four and five. Volunteers meet with children once a week for an hour, which is divided into 20-minute periods during lunch, recess and classroom time.