As a teacher, Monisha Moore recognized a need in students that required just a little bit more than was being given to them through the standard educational system.
“Once I got into a classroom, some of the same students that were struggling when I was a kindergarten teacher were then struggling when I saw them as a third-grade teacher,” Moore said. “They were the same students that we talked about to the secondary teachers and the secondary teachers were saying ‘They just need a little bit more.’
“We all had this common thought that we had failed them somehow. That maybe had we just given them just a little bit more then they would have been more successful and been able to do what they want to do.”
The understanding that some students need that something extra led to the founding of the nonprofit organization, The Bridge Educational Philanthropy, and the for-profit educational research center, Our Village, located in downtown Jasper.
Our Village focuses on ensuring that students, who otherwise would struggle to achieve their goals, have the resources and support needed to be whoever they see themselves being. Moore said that research has shown that a lot of those struggles are seen in students coming from single-parent homes, students who are multi-lingual learners, students on government assistance and first-generation college students.
“We look at how many students are getting in the 30-point club for ACT scores,” she said. “But then also compare that to the number of students that are in 10th, 11th and 12th grade. We want to see more students in that 30-point club. We look at how many students go off to college, get accepted to college, but then look up again and they’re back in Jasper and don’t leave here again. We see that there is a need.”
Our Village addresses that need by asking students a simple question: “What do you want?”
Moore said that most students know that answer and believe in themselves to do it, but have grown frustrated by a system that doesn’t work for them.
“Every student doesn’t take a test well, but that’s not the totality of who they are,” she said, noting that some students learn best by doing, but very few “high stakes” tests are geared to letting them build or create something. “We as educators are encouraged to differentiate and make sure students learn the way they’re best able to. But, then we test them all the same. So what we’re trying to do is, if we’re going to test them all the same, we want to give them all the strategies as we can to do well on those tests.”
Our Village, who works with students ranging from kindergarten through college, finds unique ways of addressing the challenges faced by students, regardless of their background.
For younger multi-lingual students learning to speak another language, for example, Moore says the classes are held in a casual, non-graded atmosphere. Doing so allows the students to have fun and learn the language from both instructors and each other.
For older students, it’s not just about giving them the resources to succeed in the classroom, but in life as well.
“We teach them skills such as how to write and respond to an email, because this stuff that they’re doing on their phone is not quite it,” Moore said. “How to dress, how to make eye contact and how to write a resume are all things we teach them.”
Moore said Our Village is also working to teach young adults how to become involved in the community.
“We have a group of teenage students that come in and have discussions about what they see wrong with the world and the community and how they can fix it,” she said. “They’re not quite ready to speak out openly about it, but within their small group, they’re like ‘if they would do this, this would change.’ So we’re trying to get them to be people who not only want to be better for themselves,but want to give back to their community.”
Through the nonprofit organization, The Bridge, Our Village is able to accept students of all financial backgrounds through grant funding. However, regardless of how a student attends, the benefits remain the same and no one knows the difference.
“They all get the same teachers,” Moore said. “They all get similar experiences. It is set up in a way that they don’t have to feel bad about it. If you fit into any of those demographics – single-parent home, you can still go to college even if your parents just split up. If you are a native-Spanish speaker, we’re going to help get you to where you need to be.”
Moore grew up around people that cared and helped her when she needed it. Whether it was the church that she was a part of or teachers that would explain something a different way to ensure she understood it, Moore had a community to help her grow.
“I had a lot of friends that didn’t make it and I wanted them to make it,” she recalled. “I felt paralyzed, because I didn’t know what to do to help them.”
Through Our Village, she no longer feels paralyzed and is to students what others were for her.
Anyone seeking information on Our Village can visit ourvillagejasper.com to find information about upcoming events, the classes and courses that are offered, the ACT prep and can learn a little bit more about the non-profit and the for-profit.
Parents interested in enrolling their student into the program can reach Our Village via email to [email protected]. They can also be found on Facebook.
