Edward Cline enjoys working with children. So when an opportunity came for him to perform some community service while interacting with his favorite group of people, he jumped at the chance.
“I like helping people and teaching the young ones something,” said the 59-year-old Addison Township resident. “People have been teaching me all my life and now I’m getting to return that.”
Cline is heading into his fifth year as a volunteer with Junior Achievement of Southeastern Michigan (JA). JA is an organization dedicated to educating young people about business, economics and free enterprise. The programs are taught by volunteers during in-class and after-school sessions.
The JA programs are geared for students grades K-12 and feature age appropriate curriculum. Each session meets once a week for about an hour and lasts for one semester. The ultimate goal is to ensure that every child has a fundamental understanding of the free enterprise system.
“The programs are very important and really help the kids understand real world concepts a lot,” said Cline. “This way they understand why they’re learning the things they are.”
Cline, a service parts buyer for the past 39 years, learned about the program through a notice posted in his Daimler-Chrysler office. Daimler-Chrysler has been a strong supporter of JA for years and encourages employees to volunteer for the program.
“Doing this is not what I expected it would be in the beginning – I didn’t think it would be this much fun,” laughed Cline.
For the past four years Cline has taught sessions in both Oxford and Lake Orion. He has worked with Clear Lake Elementary third grade teacher Jackie Wiscombe for four years.
“I have heard students ask over and over again ‘Why do I need to know this?’” said Wiscombe. “He makes that connection between real life and school academics come together much easier.”
“He brings in the real-life why.”
Cline said that he enjoys working in Oxford Schools because he feels “it makes the students feel a little more relaxed to know I live in the community.” He added that he prefers using local examples with his JA lessons so that the students can relate the topics.
“We’ve used blueprints, scales,” he explained. “I’ve talked about hiring contractors and different zonings. I also try to pull in what they are learning in the classroom as well.”
Being a JA volunteer does take some commitment. School semesters normally last eight to nine weeks and volunteers must complete a one-day training course that covers what to expect, how to interact with the students and what they will be teaching. Also, volunteers must learn how to teach the separate lessons for the different grade levels.
For Cline, the commitment is well worth the excitement and fun he has teaching the children. He said he plans to continue volunteering with JA for as long as he can.
“I see that they do pick up on this stuff and learn it – that’s just the best part,” he said. “I enjoy getting everybody to participate. I love doing it. It’s so much fun.”
For more information on Junior Achievement or on volunteering, please call 1-800-843-6395 or log-on to www.ja.org.