WRC's Mission
WRC aims to improve the reading abilities of students in the Bremerton School District and across the state through research-based tutoring methods.
Members work to help form effective collaborations between all members of the community in order to support students on their way to becoming better readers.
WRC's Objectives
Tutoring
WRC members and volunteer tutors work one-on-one and in small groups with elementary school students to give them the skills they need to become capable readers who have positive opinions and behaviors toward reading.
Volunteer Recruitment
WRC works to recruit and maintain volunteer tutors at each site who are committed to helping students achieve at grade level. Volunteers tutor in one-on-one and small-group tutoring sessions throughout the day, working with the grade they choose. Volunteers are trained and given all the skills they need to be successful in their noble mission to help the youth in Bremerton.
Family and Community Involvement
WRC is committed to involving all members of the community in the development of its youth. By planning and implementing family-involvement events, families have a chance to take part in their children's learning, taking home practical skills and fun activities for them to work on with students. Check out the events WRC programs are putting on at their schools and in the community by clicking on the individual sites or looking at the event listings.
Contacts
For more information about the WRC program at each site in Bremerton and how to volunteer, click on the links to the left. Here's how to contact the WRC volunteer coordinator at each site.
Rebecca Butorac
800 Dibb St., 98310
e-mail: arminjahrwrc@gmail.com
office: 360.473.4187
Rhonda Ramirez
Naval Avenue Early Learning Center
900 Olympic Ave., 98312
e-mail: rhonda.ramirez@bsd.wedntet.edu
office: 360.473.4489
Ana Bicanin
3250 Spruce St., 98310
e-mail: viewridgewrc@gmail.com
office: 360.473.4508
Zachary Vaughn
520 National Ave. S., 98312
e-mail: westhillswrc@gmail.com
office: 360.473.4671
What Else Do We Do?
Civic Engagement
In addition to working in elementary schools in Bremerton, members help train the future leaders of communities through their work as a civic engagement facilitators.
WRC members lead groups of youth through a curriculum that helps them design their own community service project. Over the two months that members facilitate lessons, students choose an issue to address in the community and then plan a project that addresses that issue.
By connecting students with their community and the problems they see in them every day, WRC members aim to empower youth to take an active role in improving Bremerton.
This year, there are two Civic Engagement groups in Bremerton. One of the groups has decided to address domestic violence with a service project by raising awareness about the issue in the community. You can check out the Website they designed here. The other group decided to focus on helping animals in Bremerton. They held a donation drive for local companies and shelters. The first project will culminate during National Volunteer Week from April 28-May 2, and the second one will end during National AmeriCorps Week from April 7-11.
Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service
Each year, AmeriCorps members from across the country take a pledge to make MLK Jr. Day a day on, not a day off. By organizing their own service projects, WRC members strive each year to make a difference in their communities. This year WRC members in Bremerton planned and implemented two service projects on MLK Jr. Day.
The Career Resource and Job Recruitment Event at Kitsap Community Resources brought job-training organizations, employers and educational representatives together in one location so that Bremerton citizens could find and receive the information they needed about jobs and opportunities in the community. More than 60 people attended the event, which included representatives from Goodwill, the Navy, Starbucks, Orchard Foods, Olympic College representatives and Work Source Kitsap County.
Through a comprehensive donation drive, WRC members were able to collect more than 600 total items to donate to St. Vincent's de Paul and the Bremerton Foodline. From blankets, diapers and baby formula to non-perishable food items and toiletry articles, members ran donation sites at several locations throughout Kitsap County such as QFC, Central Market, Albertson's and Safeway.
