When the pandemic hit, students around the country were suddenly left without the socio-developmental interactions they enjoyed and shared within the structures of their academic institutions.   “The pandemic was unexpected and placed a huge toll on our school, in terms of extracurricular activities suddenly being canceled. We all had to move online instead, and as we all know, interacting and engaging with students can be quite difficult online — but we made it!” says Reva Adi, a senior and current chapter president of the Village Mentors Pembroke Pines Charter School.  Students were left not only without the social and development programs they craved, but they were left without the service hours many needed for course requirements, due to pandemic-related stay-at-home orders.

Students who were a part of organizations like Village Book Builders, however, were able to maintain personal connections during the pandemic as well as fulfill community service hours through the non-profit’s online mentoring program.  Village Book Builders provides students in the United States the opportunity to serve as virtual mentors to disenfranchised children in low-income countries.  Once a week mentors and mentees meet face-to-face online, focusing on reading and reading comprehension skills.  “Village Book Builders [gave] us an opportunity to earn service hours and take part in a beautiful mission to share knowledge and end the cycle of poverty. With Village Book Builder’s unique programs and activities, our students have gained a wonderful experience and are able to mentor internationally — which is such a special experience for them to have at a time when international travel was nonexistent.” said Adi.

Krupa Patel, a senior majoring in Biology at Mercer University also appreciated how smoothly the process was in getting Mercer students up and running as mentors with Village Book Builders.  “Covid…restricted many service missions and study abroad opportunities for our students, but Village Book Builders has been a service that was simple to implement because it has been online since its very beginning — long before the pandemic started.”

To find out more about Village Book Builders and learn how to get involved as a Village Mentor visit www.villagebookbuilders.org. 

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