We wanted to extend our thanks to Ken Walsh and Coming of Age, an organization that celebrates the ability of all people age 50+ to continue to grow, transform their communities and become a force for public good. In a recent profile, Ken describes his experience with WCC:
Read on for the complete article...Ken is a strong proponent of staying engaged through volunteerism, and he has a long history of community service. The 12-year resident of Alameda grew up on the East Coast and attended grad school at Indiana University. After college, he moved to Chicago, where he started a theater company. The company was so hard-hit by the AIDs crisis, however, that the theater closed and shifted to a place of care. He turned to teaching to support himself. He taught acting, theater management, speech and ESL at the college level. He later worked in education administration and financial aid.
He’s used all those skills in his volunteer work in education. Through WriterCoach Connection, he interacts directly with students at Fremont High in Oakland. The expanding “WCC” program brings one-on-one help to middle and high school students as they work on their classroom writing assignments.
Ken first discovered the organization on the Coming of Age website, and wanted to find out more. He describes his impressions as he ventured into the first WriterCoach orientation: “It was great and so were the people. Some were retired, some young people. The students themselves were just great. They’re the ones who sold me on the program. The kids were incredible. They kept me thinking about how to communicate something and then have ideas come from them, for them to get the discoveries on their own.
“When you see something click, see the light bulb go off—that’s what I really enjoy,” he says. The program “lets students know they are valuable just by virtue of having someone interested in them. I love seeing people become eloquent members of society where they can think and express themselves clearly.”
Robert Menzimer, Executive Director of Community Alliance for Learning, the nonprofit that operates WCC, reflects on the importance of those inspirational moments. He notes, “What Ken says about working one-on-one with students goes to the heart of WriterCoach Connection and its impact on students, teachers and our volunteers. The ranks of our coaches are filled with people seasoned by a wide range of experiences in life, many of whom continue as coaches for years. What the coaches see in their students’ eyes keeps them coming back—it’s tangible evidence that the volunteers’ valuable time is well invested. And clearly, the time we spend recruiting and training Coming of Age members for this work is equally well invested!”
Christine McGuinness
Communications Director