Photo by Kelli Weldon

Arif Raza, Austin Partners In Education volunteer, works for AMD.

As Austin ISD students start classes Aug. 25, local nonprofit Austin Partners In Education is beginning its push to recruit volunteers at the AISD schools for which it provides tutoring and mentorship programs.

Cathy Jones, APIE executive director, said the organization is celebrating its 10-year anniversary in October. APIE volunteers help prepare students in under-resourced communities to be college- and career-ready.

"We've done a lot in Austin schools in classrooms, but we really need to look forward to the next 10 years we need help expanding, taking this to scale and meeting the needs of the campuses that are asking for us," Jones said.

Circle C resident Leslee Camarillo said she volunteers at Covington Middle School as part of APIE's math classroom coaching program and has found the organization to be supportive and organized.

Classroom coaches volunteer during the school day—many volunteers come to campus on their lunch hour, Camarillo said. Volunteers break into groups and instruct class, but the teacher remains in the classroom. Each volunteer is matched with fewer than four students who work once a week for 45 minutes on high-engagement activities in reading or math.

In the 2013–14 school year, Camarillo was assigned to work with a student who had some disciplinary problems, she said.

"At the end of the year he wrote me the sweetest note [that said] 'If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have passed,'" she said.

Volunteers do not have to be experts in math or reading education to be classroom coaches, she said.

"When you say math, most people just cringe and freak out and think they're going to be up in front of the classroom teaching the Pythagorean [Theorem]. But you're not. People shouldn't be afraid to volunteer because math scares them or they hate math, because it's not that [difficult] at all," Camarillo said. "It's just you working with some children who need an adult role model to work with besides the teachers, just to make them feel a little special."

APIE also offers its Step Up program wherein volunteers meet with middle-school students who need additional support in reading or math, as well as a mentoring program.

More information about the organization and how to volunteer is available at www.austinpartners.org.