After school program helps Collier County students achieve their best

IMMOKALEE, Fla. – High school students in Collier County are stepping up to help teach younger kids. It’s all made possible through a collaboration of several organizations.

“We want to engage them, we want to make it authentic and real and this program is a wonderful way to segway one academic year to another” said Juana Brown, who is the director of charter schools for RCMA.

Students at the Immokalee Community School are getting some extra attention in the classroom from other students who are part of the Guadalupe Center. “Our high school program employees 70 high school students to tutor with the teachers in the after school programs and they’ve really provided a role model for the younger children” said Guadalupe Center President Barbara Oppenheim.

Over the past several years, the high school students have come to help the Kindergarten to second graders. The tutoring program extends the school day for those students and allows them to keep learning over the summer.

The program is one of many helping children in the community. It’s all thanks to the millions of dollars raised by Collier County’s most elite fundraiser.

“Funds from the Naples Winter Wine Festival help pay for tutors, help pay for transportation and help pay for providing programs that help narrow the achievement gap” said Maria Jimenez Lara. She is the chief executive officer of the Naples Children & Education Foundation or NCEF.

Brown tells WINK News with so much money raised, they’ve been able to help more children and provide a better quality of service. “This is an exciting thing because the program evolves and changes in order to meet the educational needs of the students.”

Since 2001, NCEF has invested $135 million to children in Collier County. It’s helped more than 200,000 to improve their education.