Volunteers help at Spring Hill Elementary on United Way's Day of Caring

SPRING HILL — Seven community members demonstrated their commitment to children during the United Way Day of Caring on Oct. 21 after third-grade teacher Jennifer Gompers invited them to Spring Hill Elementary School.

"I signed up for it to help motivate my students," she said.

Heather Reddig and Lisa Anne Richardson came from Pasco-Hernando Community College. "I just want to help out," Richardson said. "I think it's good for the community."

Spring Hill Dental Associates' Freda Olmo, Debra Chenis and Pat Augustyniak volunteered. "I'm on the board of United Way of Hernando County," Augustyniak said. "We believe in giving back to the community."

The other helpers were Elena Sutton from Coastal Engineering in Brooksville and physician consultant Donald Kirby from IC Solutions, who said he "thought it would be a nice diversion from doctors to third-graders."

The visitors worked individually or in small groups with the students, helping them analyze a story, work Venn diagrams and practice research skills. They spent part of the morning in Gompers' classroom and the rest in the media center.

Brett Shaw, 8, didn't mind the visitors. "I'm fine," he said. "It's not going to scare me, 'cause I know some of them." He figured they were there "so we can learn what Pasco-Hernando Community College is like and we can teach them what the school is like."

Bernard Bynum, 8, said the guests were there to help his class with worksheets that had questions designed to hone dictionary, atlas, thesaurus and encyclopedia skills. The visitors were apparently learning, too. "We're teaching them about words and synonyms," Bernard said.

Shavaris McNair, 8, said he was "good" with the volunteers and said they came "to see how good we are and smart."