University students make Fridays

After staring intently at the chessboard in front of him, a student makes his move. He is not an intellectually bent college student; rather, he is a third grader at a Lawrence, MA elementary school who, on "Fun Fridays," is visited by Tufts students who teach the elementary schoolers to play chess.

The chess class is one of a number of classes taught by Tufts students in Lawrence -- part of a program started by Omidyar Scholars Kim Boehler and Chloe Kaplan. The pair established the connection to the Lawrence school through Boehler's mother, who teaches there.

"I love chess and I enjoy coming in to teach for this," said Noah Trugman, one of the University students who bring "Fun Fridays" to Lawrence. Trugman's sentiment is shared by all Tufts students who teach classes, and the enjoyment is reciprocated by the elementary schoolers.

"Noah is a good teacher," one third grader said. "He makes me feel good playing chess." Trugman coaches the students in games against each other, and also takes on the kids in some games himself.

The Omidyar Scholars program, which was started in 2001 to fund projects created by Tufts students that focus on community service, pays for the expenses associated with "Fun Fridays": food, crafts supplies, and other necessary costs. While the Omidyar program has received its share of criticism, "Fun Fridays" seems to have proven a success.

Tufts students who were interested in the program signed up to teach classes in their areas of interest. The students were allowed to list their top three choices for a class, and were placed in specific classes as the demand for them allowed. As of last Friday, the fifth "Fun Friday," all the University students in the program said that they were happy with their placement.

From 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. for the past five Fridays the kids in Lawrence, grades one through four, had the opportunity to learn about Cultural Cooking, Doctor Seuss, Medieval Ages, Chess, Italian Culture, Painting, Photography, Musical Theatre, Music, Arts & Crafts, or Friendship.

Tufts freshman Alex Maloney, who teaches the Italian Culture class to students in grades three and four, has enjoyed having the opportunity to teach younger children and do community service.

"It's an excellent venue for Tufts students to use their teaching skills," Maloney said. "It's not just mindless community service."

While the kids can be rowdy at times, the Tufts students seem to work well with them, even in places as messy as the kitchen. Sophomores Lauren Fleisher and Lauren Ackerman teach Cultural Cooking, where last Friday they helped the students make nachos last Friday.

"We try to do things where the kids can really help out a lot," Ackerman said.

Ackerman and Fleisher's group of six or seven rambunctious third and fourth grade boys can be a lot to handle, but all parties involved enjoy the class.

"Making pizza was my favorite part," fourth grader Gabriel said. "I really like when Lauren and Lauren come in."

While preparing for cooking, a teacher at Lawrence said that all day each Friday the students do not stop talking about Fun Fridays, "They're so excited for it all day, we can't calm them down," she said.