Greenbelt CARES’s Judye Hering and her cadre of volunteer teachers have been delivering in-person English lessons, school-age tutoring and GED preparation classes for many years in the Clubhouse at Springhill Lake Recreation Center. COVID-19 has brought unwelcome changes. Gone for now are the holiday potlucks, welcoming hugs, clothing exchanges and pep talks that have made the Clubhouse not only a schoolroom but an oasis of acceptance and shared progress. Though change is difficult, the show goes on, online.
It took years to build the merry crowds that Hering welcomed to the Clubhouse, and Zoom can never be the same. Not all clients are able or equipped to make the online transition quickly or easily. Life has become hectic and stressful for many of Greenbelt’s adult learners as they deal with homeschooling, insufficient technology, lost jobs and food insecurity.
To meet the schedules of such students, the new CARES class schedule offers more choice than ever before. In hour-long Zoom sessions (every day at 10 a.m. and at other times throughout the week) Hering teaches as well as creates and supervises breakout sessions. In addition, many students have been paired up with teachers for one-on-one virtual sessions timed and designed to meet students’ individual needs. With the recent addition of volunteer teachers from the
University of Maryland Terps for Change program, there is even more customized service.
The city is exploring the possibility of adapting the Clubhouse for COVID-19 safety, featuring individual, mobile learning pods, with the help of CARES Act funding. The old elbow-to-elbow, “there’s always room to squeeze in one more chair” atmosphere may be gone forever. But the Clubhouse is available and adaptable, and the mission to prepare Greenbelters for a more secure and successful life deserves a safe space.
