Pearl Rotarians participated recently as Madison High School’s Step Up program hosted a site visit from Portland City Commissioner Dan
Saltzman.
In his oversight role for Portland’s Children’s Fund which helps underwrite the Open Meadow School’s Step Up program operating in several Portland high schools, Saltzman met on Nov. 9 with administrators, teachers and students involved at the Madison location. Step Up is an after-school program aimed at supporting ninth-grade students at risk of dropping out during their high school years.
Saltzman visited classroom sessions and heard brief presentations from Open Meadow School Director Andrew Mason, Madison program director Sierra Hill and Pearl Rotary Club’s Don Barney. A past president of Pearl Rotary, Barney told Saltzman about the club’s partnership with StepUp that includes underwriting scholarships for students to attend a summer camp to prepare them for beginning their critical ninth-grade year. The club also provides volunteer tutors who attend the after-school sessions during the school year, working with students in need of assistance with homework and other academic assignments.
Barney shared his tutoring experiences assisting individual students, saying “all in all, it’s a very satisfying volunteer activity for myself and fellow Pearl Rotarians as we help these students take advantage of the opportunity that Step Up offers them to improve their grades and eventually graduate.” Other Pearl Rotarians participating in Step Up and Open Meadow programs this fall include Stan Swan, Marc Hillman, Anne O’Neill, Roger Meyer, Dave Clingan, Doug MacGregor Larry Berman and Katja Gluhr.
Mason, the director, expressed appreciation for the wide range of participation:
“The folks who showed up…were a great reflection of what we’re doing: focusing on kids with what they need in a way that delivers academic and social results. The commissioner walked away with a much better sense of the program and with a real flavor of the lives that the Children’s Levy is impacting. This is a big deal at a time of constricting budgets and increasing need for our families. Don (Barney) brought some great history with Dan (Saltzman) that translated into exciting action today on the part of the ever-welcome Portland Pearl Rotary.”
