Spring 2000
Super VISTA
Able to withstand great criticism, able to juggle 5 meetings in one day, able to bring innovative programs to schools . . . It's a computer! It's a magician! No, it's Super VISTA (Volunteers In Service to America). VISTAs, ages 18 through 81, with a variety of backgrounds and interests, help develop a range of projects around the United States. The idea is to start a program that eventually sustains itself. Two Austin ISD schools, Allison Elementary and Sanchez Elementary, currently have VISTAs.
Margaret Tarpley, the VISTA at Allison, is originally from Nashville, Tennessee; she attended Macalester College in Minnesota where she studied Spanish and Geography. This year she has initiated a volunteer program at Allison through which she is working to bring more tutors and mentors into the school. She also co-coordinates the pre-K PALS program with ACEE program literacy specialist Mary Ellen Isaacs; they are working at increasing parent involvement in the program. Tarpley works as the school's main liaison with Time Warner Cable, one of Allison's partners, and serves on the Interfaith core team. She is also on the planning committee for this year's Día de los Niños/Día de los Libros. Her current projects include planning Allison's soon-to-be butterfly garden, and collaborating with teachers, staff, and parents to install soccer fields behind the school.
Jennifer San Pedro, the VISTA at Sanchez Elementary, is from San Benito (at the southernmost tip of Texas), and graduated with a Japanese and Philosophy degree. San Pedro continues to coordinate the ESL program which currently teaches about 70 students. She has also brought numerous volunteers, tutors, and mentors to Sanchez and teaches a gymnastics after-school club there. San Pedro and Pam Clinger, the assistant principal, were awarded $5,000 from the Dell Classroom Connections grant which they worked together to write. This year, San Pedro along with Elva Garza, Terrazas Library branch manager, are co-chairs for Dˆåa de los Niños/Dˆåa de los Libros 2000. San Pedro collaborates with businesses around Austin to bring volunteers, mentors, presentors, and tutors to the school. She is currently seeking volunteers for Peace Games, a conflict management program for 5th and 6th graders.