Service for Peace Volunteers Start Computer Mentoring Program at Escondido's Serenity House

Photo Album

San Diego's Summer of Service continued on July 1st when 12 Service for Peace volunteers taught computer skills to women recovering from drug and alcohol dependencies. It was the first of a series of computer mentoring sessions that will be offered at Escondido's Serenity House. The sessions give residents of the recovery center a chance to gain the basic computer skills they will need to find high-quality jobs.

The volunteer computer mentors, most of whom are high school and college age, offered personalized instruction to residents participating in the session. Sitting down together at individual computer terminals in the Serenity House training center, each mentor and student pair decided on a learning objective, then worked together using a worksheet that teaches that skill. A variety of worksheets provided by Service for Peace teach beginning skills like opening files or using a mouse, along with more advanced skills for using applications like Microsoft Word and Excel.

"The mentoring system works very well in this context," said David Roberts, director of the San Diego chapter of Service for Peace. "The students range from beginner to advanced and one-on-one tutoring lets them receive personal instruction in exactly the area where they want to learn. Many high school and college students are experts at basic computer skills, and this gives them an excellent opportunity to serve by sharing that expertise."

Residents of the center were pleased with the program, and asked the mentors to return as soon as possible so they could continue their study. The July 1st class was a pilot for a series of four weekly sessions will be held this summer on Tuesday evenings at 6 pm on July 19 and 26 and August 2 and 9. Plans are being made to continue the program in the fall at Serenity House and other locations.

This summer, San Diego chapter of Service for Peace is also working together at Serenity House with Big Animals for Little Kids to entertain children living there and their mothers. Volunteers from the two groups wore animal costumes and put on a party for the residents, which also featured face painting and magic tricks. Both the parties and the computer classes are part of the 2005 San Diego area Summer of Service program, a summer-long program designed to foster growth and a sense of community involvement in youth through service.

Service for Peace (www.ServiceForPeace.org) is an international non-profit youth service organization begun in Washington DC in 2002. Its programs combine service, learning and a fresh perspective on the problems and solutions we face in building peace.