Azusa Pacific University is deeply rooted in a history of community engagement and spreading God’s love through service. For the past 25 years, APU has partnered with the Azusa City Library in various education based programs. The partnership is the longest standing in the city and highlights APU’s fourth principle of community engagement through mutual and reciprocal relationships.
APU offers students the opportunity to make an impact in the community while earning paid work experience through Community Advancement Programs (CAP), within the Center for Career and Community Engaged Learning (CCEL). Students can apply for university-approved, off campus CAP jobs that align with their majors and potential career interests. They are hired by APU through Federal Work Study funding to serve in local nonprofits and community-based sites which provide supervision and mentorship.
Azusa Reads, Writes, and Counts (ARWC) is a free after-school tutoring program for children in kindergarten through fifth grade that takes place Monday through Thursday. Kids can receive math, reading, writing, and spelling homework help one-on-one with an APU student tutor.
Psychology major Megan Bolinger ’25 returned as a tutor for her third year. She has enjoyed working with the children and building useful career skills. “You can learn a lot in the classroom, but what matters is how you apply those skills to help others in the community,” she said. Bolinger prioritizes making her sessions an equitable and mutual relationship by encouraging her students to make decisions that will benefit their learning. “I like to try new strategies with them, but I always make sure to ask my students what is working for them because they know how they learn best.” Her favorite part of her job is seeing the children make progress and being able to celebrate their achievements with them.
ARWC is a strong partnership between APU and the library itself as well. City Librarian
Leila Hassen is in charge of coordinating community partnerships.
Hassen said that APU tutors have made an impact on the children’s confidence. “The encouragement students receive from their tutors is an extra component of the program that you don’t see on the program announcement flyers,” she said. The City Library is one of the few libraries that hosts in-person tutoring. “Having one-on-one time in a supportive atmosphere builds kids’ confidence which is something that I hear from parents.” During the pandemic, the program was virtual for a year-and-a-half, but Hassen was grateful for APU tutors’ dedication to continuing to help and encourage the students. “ARWC is the longest running program at the library which is impressive enough, but the relationships that have been made benefit the community.”
Another CAP partnership between the Azusa City Library and APU is the Grassroots English as a Second Language (ESL) program. The program has many different sites, sessions, and levels for community members looking to receive tutoring in English speaking, listening, reading and writing, as well as help in studying to become U.S. citizens. Regina Arnold is the Adult Literacy Coordinator at the Library. She oversees all of the adult literacy programs. “I can’t see us doing this program without APU’s help,” she said. “The partnership with APU provides us with mutually beneficial opportunities to work with qualified students who become volunteer tutors.”
One of those tutors is Amy Valencia ’27 who has helped review and modify many of the learning materials community members use to study for their civics questions test. She has also been dedicated to doing one-on-one tutoring with as many learners as possible. APU tutors from multiple academic areas have helped to develop and facilitate lessons for the adult literacy programs. ESL tutor training for the volunteer tutors has been provided by Dr. Tasha Bleistein, director of online Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) programs and professor in the Department of Sociology, TESOL, and Modern Languages at APU.
APU’s community partnership with the Azusa City Library through CAP is incredibly beneficial for allowing APU students to gain hands-on experience in their academic fields. The program has also made a positive impact on the lives of those in the community across all ages.