A&M-San Antonio’s Honors Program is making a powerful community impact through its partnership with the WHIT Program, a San Angelo-based nonprofit that connects children in foster care with tutors who help bring them up to grade level.
Over the past year, University honors students have provided nearly 300 hours of tutoring for foster youth across Texas. Foster youth have the lowest high-school graduation rate of any group tracked by the state of Texas.
Criminology and criminal justice student Clara Rodriguez, president of the Honors Student Association, was recently celebrated as Tutor of the Year at WHIT’s annual Brighter Minds, Brighter Future Sneaker Ball in San Angelo.
“It was an amazing experience,” said Rodriguez.
Dr. William Bush, director of the Honors Program, helped spearhead the partnership with WHIT, which started in the fall of 2023. Students meet remotely with K-12 foster youth in weekly tutoring sessions covering reading, writing, math, and science.
“About two dozen students have participated. They get a lot out of it,” said Bush, adding that the WHIT partnership is an example of how the Honors Program provides Jaguars with opportunities to make a meaningful impact and benefit from experiential learning and leadership opportunities.
Rodriguez was one of the first students to join the Honors Program when it started in the fall of 2022. “I have this trailblazer mentality, and I wanted to jump in and be part of history and lay some foundational bricks,” she said.
Before volunteer WHIT tutors like Rodriguez are paired with a child, they undergo a background check and special training with the nonprofit, including learning about confidentiality and how to spot abuse and neglect. WHIT is supported entirely by private donations and the tutoring service is offered free to foster children and their families.
“Clara has been a phenomenal tutor,” said Rebekah Beltran, WHIT’s director of operations. “Her dedication and patience are unparalleled. When challenges arise, she is ready to find solutions to do what is needed to help the student she is working with. We are so very grateful for Clara and other A&M-SA students who volunteer their services to our program and to children in foster care across the state of Texas.”
Rodriguez has been tutoring a young boy since October 2023 who will soon graduate second grade. As part of the tutoring process, Rodriguez also works with foster care workers and the foster child’s caregivers.
“It's been kind of a family experience,” she said. “We’ve helped him understand what it means to have a support system and to have people around you who care about your success and happiness. It's amazing how we’ve come together and really rerouted his trajectory.”
Rodriguez’s experience with WHIT dovetails perfectly with her future career plans, as she’s graduating in May with a bachelor's degree in criminology and criminal justice and a minor in early childhood development.
“I know that seems like an odd combination, but I aspire to be a second-grade teacher,” she said. “I intend to bring this hybrid knowledge to my classroom. WHIT really fueled my passion. I got to understand the role of a teacher in a child's life. It’s had a big impact on me.”
A San Antonio native, Rodriguez said she hopes to teach at Hoffman Elementary School, where she attended as a child. “I really want to have this full-circle moment and teach at the elementary school that I grew up in.”