On any weekday from Tuesday to Friday, the students at Growing Together preschool dart between stations: looking at books, finger painting, and learning to count. They eat snacks and sing songs led by their teacher, Kathy Boos, and two participants from Mennonite Mission Network’s Service Adventure program.
Service Adventure is a program that allows young adults ages 17-20 to live in a community with a unit leader or leader couple, and serve for 10 months in various cities across the United States. Raleigh Mennonite Church is the host congregation for one of the Service Adventure units. Susan Nisly, the Service Adventure program director, says that Raleigh is a good place for Service Adventure to have a unit.
“People at Raleigh Mennonite Church look for ways to be involved in their community,” Nisly said. “The unit house is just a couple of blocks from the church, and so participants get to be in the community where numbers of church people live and are invested.”
Kathy Boos is a member of Raleigh Mennonite Church and says the Service Adventurers are an essential part of her program, doing everything from meal preparation and cleanup, to playground activities, bus duty, and setting up and cleaning up the learning centers in the classroom.
Nisly said that working with the preschool is valuable for Service Adventure participants because it broadens their worldview and exposes them to children who come from varied backgrounds, often from single-parent families in lower-income neighborhoods.
“Our preschoolers love working with our Service Adventure teaching assistants,” Boos said, “and the Service Adventurers are a blessing to me and to our preschool program!”
“I think that Kathy helps our participants see the difference that one person can make,” Nisly said. “She pours herself into the work with the children, and participants who work with her are so impressed by that.”
For Boos, teaching is her profession and passion, and it’s also something she sees as a calling. She is the first teacher that many students and parents get to know, and Growing Together is the first place that her students experience what it’s like to go to school.
“I see my work as a ministry and a way to live out my faith,” Boos said. “I work hard to build positive long-term relationships with both parents and students. I often have friendships with our students and their parents for many years after they ‘graduate’ and move on to kindergarten.”
The students at Growing Together aren’t eligible for government preschool assistance, but often their parents can’t afford tuition at other preschools. Growing Together helps fill the gap. Each morning from Tuesday through Friday, a bus picks up the students and brings them to school, where they eat breakfast and then start their day.
From Wednesday until the end of the week, Sofia Hess, a Service Adventure participant from Goshen, Ind., rides along.
“I help with breakfast and then we do centers,” Hess said. “My center is writing and drawing. The kids are just so fun. They have their own personalities, and it’s great working with them.”
Service Adventure has supplied a volunteer or two every year for 10 years. This year, in addition to Hess, who works part-time at the preschool, Abby Drader is a full-time volunteer.
Boos took over the directorship of the preschool from Sharon and Jim Bright. Sharon, a retired teacher, had a vision for a preschool that helped youngsters in public housing communities get ready for kindergarten. Her husband, Jim, retired early from IBM and was a partner with Sharon in these preschools.
The first preschool met in the same building as Raleigh Mennonite Church. Boos was the lead teacher and director at that school from 1998 until 2005. Then, the Brights retired and asked Boos to take over the program at Growing Together, held at Christ Episcopal Church in downtown Raleigh, where she has been since 2005.
“I have had the privilege to work with 10 wonderful, caring, compassionate and hard-working Service Adventure participants,” Boos said.
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For immediate release.
Mennonite Mission Network, the mission agency of Mennonite Church USA, leads, mobilizes and equips the church to participate in holistic witness to Jesus Christ in a broken world. Media may contact Andrew Clouse at andrewc@mmnworld.net, 574-523-3024 or 866-866-2872, ext. 23024.
