Respect, Integrity, Caring, Harmony, Excellence and Responsibility are lessons taught by Bishop Noll’s RICHER students, who visit fifth-grade classrooms at local Catholic elementary schools once a month.
“This program is such a great opportunity for our students to go to some local schools and teach core principles,” said Colie Zwierz, a Bishop Noll teacher and RICHER Program sponsor. “I look for students who are involved in extracurricular activities, role models in the classroom, and can engage a group of fifth-graders, which is the hardest part.”
BNI senior Chris Harvey, of Hammond, is part of the RICHER program. He said his mom was a teacher and he has always enjoyed helping kids.
“I have learned to have a more creative and direct look at life,” Harvey said. “To keep the kids interested and participating is a difficult task at the fifth-grade level. The most rewarding part was to see them after the program when I went back the next year and they remembered our faces. It feels like we really made an impact on them.”
BNI senior Ashley Kubacki, of Hammond, said she has learned that she loves helping children, especially those who attend the local grade schools she grew up in and around.
“The most rewarding part is seeing the kids retain the information and carry it out in their lives. Knowing that my peers and I had a part in molding the upcoming generations is very heart warming,” she said.
Leading the classrooms also gives Noll students the opportunity to engage an audience.
“The most challenging part of teaching fifth-graders is keeping them focused and their attention where it's supposed to be, but by creating engaging activities like we do for the RICHER program it becomes much easier and more fun,” Kubacki said.
BNI junior Megan Sullivan, of Griffith, agrees and said the RICHER program is a great opportunity to work with peers as teachers to kids sitting where they once sat.
“Seeing the ‘aha!’ moments are rewarding, when the lesson we are teaching finally clicks,” Sullivan said. “Also, it is beneficial to not only teach the fifth-graders, but to be able to connect the importance of RICHER principles to your own life … We have six principles and we want to vary what we do each time. Therefore, creating games and engaging activities can be a bit challenging.”
Bishop Noll senior Jailynn Thomas, of Gary, said she has learned that teaching is a lot harder than she thought.
“Making lesson plans and preparing for each lesson takes a lot of time and commitment. I've also learned that I love teaching and working with students,”
She has an interest in eventually starting her own school for underprivileged girls and teaching them life skills needed to be successful.
Brendan Zavesky, of Chicago’s Hegewisch neighborhood, said he has learned that teachers have a tough but rewarding job. “It's great to be able to teach kids and get to know the kids you teach … We always try to keep the keep our lessons entertaining and also at the same time have an impact on the kids.”