Cambridge School Volunteers Event Honors 2023 Volunteers in the City’s Public Schools
Two MIT Graduate Students Stand out in Relating to Youth
Cambridge School Volunteers (CSV) marked the 45th anniversary of its tutoring center at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School (CRLS) and honored two outstanding volunteers with Mack I. Davis II Awards on April 13 at the Cambridge Public Library.
L–R CSV Executive Director Meg Ramsdell, CSV Volunteer and Mack I. Davis II Award Winner Eliza Price, CSV Director of High School Programs Megan Andres, and CSV Learning Center Coordinator (CSUS) Lovleen Judson
Cambridge Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Victoria Greer delivered her appreciation to all CSV volunteers and three Cambridge Public Schools educators received the Kenneth S. Neal Award and particularly noted CSV’s contributions to CRLS student success through the tutoring center since 1978.
Eyob Kidus, a high school junior who worked with a CSV volunteer, emphasized to the audience at the ceremony that free tutoring was important. He added, “I think it's important for the first-generation Americans, born from immigrant parents, to understand that they have the tools they need to succeed.”
READING BUDDY BUILDS ENTHUSIASM
Nived Kollanthara, one of two 2023 Mack I. Davis II Award winners, is an MIT Sloan School of Business graduate student who built a warm and effective bond with his student reading buddy.
First-year volunteer Nived Kollanthara received a Mack I. Davis II Award from Cambridge School Volunteers for his dedication to his Reading Buddy, “Joseph,” at Fletcher Maynard Academy (FMA).
FMA second-grade teacher Darie Vil noticed early on “secure attachment” between the Nived and Joseph, whom she said needed this one-to-one attention. She says “Nived was always attentive and always responsive to ‘Joseph’,” and has “made him really excited about reading.”
CSV’s Learning Center Program at the district’s upper school’s reached a ten-year anniversary this year.
MIT graduate student Eliza Price also won one of CSV’s two 2023 Mack I Davis II Awards this year. Her “ability to connect with upper school students is astounding to watch,” said Lovleen Judson, CSV’s after-school learning center coordinator at Cambridge Street Upper School, introducing her. Eliza has also volunteered as a tutor to high school students at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School. Eliza’s reliability and upbeat demeanor was one reason she was chosen to pilot a tutoring program at the Cambridge Public Library’s teen room this spring. Eliza is a Ph.D. student in Chemical Engineering.
CSV awarded its Kenneth S. Neal Award for CPS educators to a trio this year. Jay Mahoney (Rindge Ave Upper School) Jackie Montminy (Cambridge St. Upper School), and Annabelle Tarek (Putnam Ave Upper School) are seventh-grade science teachers who collaborate with Cambridge School Volunteers to provide STEM mentorship to entire grade cohorts in the seventh grade. The award has been given since 2005 to a Cambridge Public School teacher or administrator who has shown exceptional and sustained commitment to a CSV program and its volunteers.
VOLPE VOLUNTEERS REACH 25 and 20 YEAR MILESTONES
Sarah May of Volpe (US Department of Transportation) (left), who coordinates the Reading Buddies contingent matched to Grade 2 and 3 students at Kennedy-Longfellow School, has volunteered for 25 years as a Reading Buddy as has Dave Phinney (not pictured). Her colleague Paul Fernandes (right) reached his twentieth year as a Reading Buddy this year, as did Alan Rao (not pictured).
Cambridge School Volunteers celebrated 25-years of volunteering on the part of two employees of Volpe Transportation Center (U.S. Department of Transportation), Sarah May and David Phinney. Both are Reading Buddies at the Kennedy-Longfellow Elementary School in East Cambridge. Sarah is also the coordinator of the Reading Buddies program on behalf of Volpe, a corporate partner of CSV.
Two volunteers reached their 20-year milestone—Paul Fernandes and Alan Rao, both Reading Buddies who work for Volpe US DOT.
Three volunteers reached their 15-year milestone: Ricardo Maldonado (volunteering at Amigos School/Escuela Amigos as an Upper School Learning Center and previously as a Reading Buddy), Sara Secunda (a Reading Buddy who works for Volpe US DOT), and Judith Rosen (an CSV Elementary Literacy Program Volunteer), have reached 15-year volunteering milestones this year.
Three additional Volpe employees—Olivia Gilham, Rebecca Hovey, and David Moore—have reached a decade of volunteering.
CRLS student contributions to the event also included performances by the CRLS Modern Dance Company and the Jazz Combo, and cookies and fruit platters prepared by the Rindge School of Technical Arts (RSTA) culinary students.
CSV has selected individuals for volunteer and educator awards annually for the past 29 years.
CSV Partnerships Reaching Milestones in 2022–23
10 years—the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard
25 Years—Volpe (US Department of Transportation)
CSV Volunteers Reaching Milestones in 2022–23
5 Years
Amir Abdolahi – NetPals
Mark Cason-Snow – Tutoring Center, Reading Buddies
Anne-Marie Chouinard – Reading Buddies
Dianne Gunther – Reading Buddies
Lisa Hacker – Reading Buddies
Jordan Katz – Reading Buddies
Tori Kohler – Reading Buddies, NetPals
Dave Madsen – Reading Buddies
Kate Mahoney – NetPals
Emily Navarrete – Reading Buddies
Sheela Shodan-Shah – Tutoring Center
Leah Sirmin – Reading Buddies
Evan Sullivan – Reading Buddies
Christopher Timmel – Reading Buddies
10 Years
Olivia Gillham – Reading Buddies
Rebecca Hovey – Reading Buddies
David Moore – Reading Buddies
15 Years
Ricardo Maldonado – Learning Center, Reading Buddies
Judith Rosen – Elementary Literacy
Sara Secunda – Reading Buddies
20 Years
Paul Fernandes – Reading Buddies
Alan Rao – Reading Buddies
25 Years
Sarah May – Reading Buddies
Dave Phinney – Reading Buddies
