Eastern Student Tanasia Butler of New Haven Works with Jumpstart Program

2018 Apr 11

This year, students at Eastern Connecticut State University have shown their community dedication through efforts made with Jumpstart -- a national organization hosted by the Center for Community Engagement (CCE) that promotes quality early learning for all children and provides various types of programming for preschool students from under-resourced communities.

Tanasia Butler '19 of New Haven, who majors in Psychology, is a member of the Jumpstart program.

As an AmeriCorps Team Leader for Jumpstart, she trains a team at the beginning of the academic year and prepares them to enter the classroom. Once they are in the field, she facilitates the lesson plan created by Jumpstart in addition to coaching and mentoring her team members through each session.

"People who engage in the community develop a sense of social responsibility, and it exposes college students to diversity and multiculturalism," said Butler. "By engaging in the community, I am able to learn new skills, develop relationships with community members and impact lives as I provide a service to those in need."

"You may be performing a simple task that could make a huge change in someone's life," she added. "I will be able to use all the skills I learned throughout this program in my career."