Your Experience Counts, seeking to meet the requests from teachers and principals, is looking for 15 more volunteers to serve elementary students in the Mesa Public Schools.  A program of HandsOn Greater Phoenix, Your Experience Counts currently has 42 volunteers working with mentor-teachers in grades three through six at 10 Mesa schools.

The profile of the YEC volunteers has been shifting according to Mike Beardslee, YEC Program Manager. “Traditionally, most of our volunteers are individuals retired from careers in business, the military and professional fields,” Beardslee says.  “Our team of Mesa volunteers represent a much broader spectrum of experiences.”

Winter visitors, couples, students at Arizona State University, and stay-at-home mothers are part of the corps of Mesa volunteers. Mary Hung, a retired educator from Rochester, Minn., will be back at Leisure World in November to serve as a volunteer for her fourth year at Taft.  Husband-wife team Craig and Shannon Lyon (pictured), in their second year as a volunteer couple, are working with students in fifth and sixth grades at Guerrero. Aaron Estes is one of three ASU students providing classroom support at Eisenhower Center for Innovation. Serving an internship as part of a Service Learning class, Estes is in a sixth grade classroom three mornings a week. Dina Barlett, with a background in engineering, was a stay-at-home mom in Scottsdale until her two children (now 8 and 11) became fulltime students.  Encouraged by another YEC volunteer, she is a first-time classroom volunteer at Eisenhower working with fourth grade students.  “I have volunteered in other capacities,” Barlett says.  She added, “YEC provides upfront and monthly training to be successful.  It is a great way to support other children in the community.”

A training for new volunteers, as well as returning seasonal residents, will be held Nov. 10-11 in central Phoenix, from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. both days.  A final training for the 2016-17 school year will take place in December.

For information about the upcoming training, or to apply as a volunteer, contact Beardslee: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ; 602.973.2212 ext. 239; or visit http://handsonphoenix.org/YEC .