"I just like helping kids:" Valley View Volunteer Program builds leadership skills

MENOMONEE FALLS (WITI) -- Sometimes your peers can be the best teachers. That's the thinking behind a new program at one Menomonee Falls school.

4th grader Jackson Lipski is teaching 1st grader Leah Morgan to read. They're both students at Valley View Elementary, and Jackson is 1 of about 60 student volunteers.

From reading to math, the Valley View Volunteer Program builds leadership skills for the 4th and 5th graders while giving the younger students a role model. And in areas where students may struggle, learning with a volunteer can be less intimating.

"If you`re doing it in front of a teacher, some kids feel like they`re going to get graded on it," Principal Tina Posnanski said.

The program offers older students a chance to help in various ways across the school such as helping escorting 4K students to the shuttle to Ben Franklin, checking out books in the library, helping children unpack their school bag, reading with students, or playing math games with students.

But not everyone qualifies. Students must apply to be volunteers. Selected students get matched with their top three job choices.

"They identify what qualities they have to make them responsible enough to be a volunteer, how they think it will help the Valley View School, and why they want to be part of the program," Posnanski said.

The volunteers are only pulled out of the classroom for 15 minutes at a time, but they are still responsible for catching up on material they may have missed. The students say the extra work is worth it.

"I just like helping kids," Lipski said.

The volunteer program has been so successful in its first few months, Valley View Elementary's principal says she sees it expanding to offer more positions, and take in more volunteers.