While many Hamilton students this summer are heading to internships in various professions, trading in their jeans, textbooks and flip-flops for business suits, Lizzie Marris '10 is making a different kind of transition. "I think the prominent departure in this internship is not from academic to professional, but rather from privilege to disadvantage," she says of her job this summer. Marris, a native of Erieville, N.Y., is working with migrant children as a teaching assistant with the Cortland Migrant Education Outreach Program (CMEOP).
Each summer, thousands of migrant families come to Central New York to work on area farms. Their children, Marris says, often have only an "inadequate and discontinuous education." CMEOP, as the fourth largest migrant education outreach program in the state, is attempting to improve the situation, providing educational services to over 1,300 students every year. As a teaching assistant, Marris tutors migrant students, some of whom speak only limited English, in reading, writing, math, English as a second language, and life skills. She also mentors the children, giving them an opportunity to talk about their issues in school and in life in general, as well as their successes.
Having come from the privileged environment of a small liberal arts college, Marris says, this internship reveals how much is often taken for granted. "These children and their families struggle educationally, financially, nutritionally, and medically. They constantly face needs from which the Hamilton campus is largely sheltered," she explains. Her work allows her to reach out to an underrepresented and underprivileged group, something that is important to her personally. "Those of us with the necessary means not only to survive but to thrive should share what we have with those not afforded the same resources," she says. "I couldn't devote myself to something I did not feel was socially useful."
Marris, a sociology major, became interested in working on issues concerning the area's migrant population after taking a class that touched on the subject. She contacted the CMEOP coordinator in the spring, and since CMEOP, as a "traditionally underfunded program," could not afford to pay its summer interns, she applied for and received a grant from the Joseph F. Anderson '44 Internship Fund. The fund, named for a 1944 Hamilton graduate, provides stipends to support full-time internships for students wishing to expand their educational horizons in preparation for potential careers after graduation.
For Marris, this internship means the chance to participate in rewarding, albeit demanding, work. Some of the children she works with have only recently arrived from Central and South America, and speak very little English. Since her own Spanish is limited, Marris says, it can be very difficult just to communicate, and teaching effectively is even more difficult. In addition, migrant parents will often keep their children out of school, fearing that Immigration and Customs Enforcement or the Border Patrol will arrest them while the children are gone and separate the family, possibly permanently.
Such factors create an environment that makes it difficult for migrant children to receive a good education. Legally, Marris says, migrant children should receive adequate educations in the public schools. "They are entitled to resources such as English as a second language classes from a certified ESL teacher," she explains. "However, the public school system is failing many of these children." Many of them enter far below grade level and depend on the migrant summer schools for their education. "It's shocking that these children are so neglected by the public schools," she says.
-- by Laura Bramley
Each summer, thousands of migrant families come to Central New York to work on area farms. Their children, Marris says, often have only an "inadequate and discontinuous education." CMEOP, as the fourth largest migrant education outreach program in the state, is attempting to improve the situation, providing educational services to over 1,300 students every year. As a teaching assistant, Marris tutors migrant students, some of whom speak only limited English, in reading, writing, math, English as a second language, and life skills. She also mentors the children, giving them an opportunity to talk about their issues in school and in life in general, as well as their successes.
Having come from the privileged environment of a small liberal arts college, Marris says, this internship reveals how much is often taken for granted. "These children and their families struggle educationally, financially, nutritionally, and medically. They constantly face needs from which the Hamilton campus is largely sheltered," she explains. Her work allows her to reach out to an underrepresented and underprivileged group, something that is important to her personally. "Those of us with the necessary means not only to survive but to thrive should share what we have with those not afforded the same resources," she says. "I couldn't devote myself to something I did not feel was socially useful."
Marris, a sociology major, became interested in working on issues concerning the area's migrant population after taking a class that touched on the subject. She contacted the CMEOP coordinator in the spring, and since CMEOP, as a "traditionally underfunded program," could not afford to pay its summer interns, she applied for and received a grant from the Joseph F. Anderson '44 Internship Fund. The fund, named for a 1944 Hamilton graduate, provides stipends to support full-time internships for students wishing to expand their educational horizons in preparation for potential careers after graduation.
For Marris, this internship means the chance to participate in rewarding, albeit demanding, work. Some of the children she works with have only recently arrived from Central and South America, and speak very little English. Since her own Spanish is limited, Marris says, it can be very difficult just to communicate, and teaching effectively is even more difficult. In addition, migrant parents will often keep their children out of school, fearing that Immigration and Customs Enforcement or the Border Patrol will arrest them while the children are gone and separate the family, possibly permanently.
Such factors create an environment that makes it difficult for migrant children to receive a good education. Legally, Marris says, migrant children should receive adequate educations in the public schools. "They are entitled to resources such as English as a second language classes from a certified ESL teacher," she explains. "However, the public school system is failing many of these children." Many of them enter far below grade level and depend on the migrant summer schools for their education. "It's shocking that these children are so neglected by the public schools," she says.
-- by Laura Bramley
