Knight Talk with Cassandra Burns '11 from International Outreach!

1. What is International Outreach?

International Outreach is a mentoring program that operates through MOVE. Once a week, kids from the

Winooski school district come to Saint Mike's to play, hang out, and get help with their homework if they need it.

We have 17 awesome kids that range in ages from around 6 or 7 to 16. Their families are from Thailand, Vietnam,

Somalia and Nepal. English is not any of the kids' first language, and they are all somewhat new to

America. We see them each week to provide whatever they might n

eed- someone to play soccer with, to help with math homework or to talk about whatever they want or need to talk about. The kids don't have too many constants in their lives, so one of our main focuses is to become one for them.

2. What kind of activities do you do with the kids?

We each have one kid that we spend most of our time with, but we will eat dinner as a group and every other week we do group activities. The kids are read with at the beginning and end of every session together to help with reading ability. So far this year we have played a lot of kickball, gotten Henna tattoos, made friendship bracelets, gone apple picking and a lot of other fun activities. In the future we are planning a trip to Pizza Putt, learning dances from the kids' original countries, and a swimming day. There is a lot of freedom as to what types of things can be done week to week. Sometimes the kids know specifically what they want to do, sometimes they are happy to play musical chairs or freeze tag with everyone else.

3. What made you want to be involved in international outreach?

In a fiction class I was assigned the book What is the What by Dave Eggers and it made me much more aware of how hard it is in certain cases to live in an politically unstable country. After reading it I really wanted to do something to help with the refugee population that lives right down the hill from us. I got an email from MOVE describing the program and I decided to join!

4. How do you think the children benefit from having a mentor?

The kids are still working on their English and living in America is a new thing for them, so we help them to adjust in a good environment. School can be a tough place to have to do that, so we offer them a safe space and a place to just have fun. The program is a 4 year commitment, so in theory a child will have the same mentor for 4 years- which will give them one more constant and influence in their life.

5. How do you become a mentor? Do you have any advice for people wanting to become more involved with international outreach?
If it is something that you want to do, come hang out on a Thursday afternoon with us and see what it's all about! If you end up liking it (who doesn't like playing with kids?) you can sign up and become a mentor! It is a 4 year commitment, but don't be discouraged if you aren't a freshman- I joined my junior year. If you are looking to help but can't commit to every week, Homework Club is also a great way to interact and help with international kids within the Winooski school district. International Outreach is a great program that I think really does a lot of good, and is also a blast!