Three days each week, Frances Gill immerses herself in a third-grade classroom in West Baltimore, usually plopping down next to a small figure working diligently to do a math problem or write a sentence.
For 15 hours a week, she helps out at James Mosher Elementary School, spreading little bits of encouragement here or helping keep a wandering mind focused there. Gill is a member of the Experience Corps, paid volunteers whose work has been found to have significant benefits in inner-city schools. But it turns out what she is doing isn't just good for the school. It is good for her health, too.
In a study released last week, researchers found that students in Experience Corps classrooms showed significant gains in reading comprehension and sounding out words, compared with students in control classrooms. The researchers from Washington University in St. Louis followed more than 800 first-, second- and third-graders at 23 elementary schools in cities other than Baltimore.
Other studies conducted by that university and by the Johns Hopkins University suggested that Experience Corps volunteers were much healthier physically and mentally than their peers.
Hopkins published the most recent findings last month in The Journal of Gerontology after following Experience Corps volunteers - primarily African-American women age 60 and older - over a period of years.
It makes sense to Gill, 72, who says helping the students has kept her learning. "It keeps you alert because they know a lot of things," she said. On a recent day in the classroom, Gill worked quietly with a boy for a half-hour as he made his way through addition and subtraction problems, arranging numbers from least to greatest.
Students said they like the Experience Corps volunteers in their classrooms. "They are fun. She makes us laugh," second-grader Kayla Langley said of one of the volunteers.
The children often treat Gill like a grandmother, sidling up to read next to her or letting go of the intimate details of their family lives. "They come up to you, and they are leaning on you like a parent. They want to hug you. They are just lovable," Gill said.
Gill had always thought she would become a teacher, but that idea got sidetracked as she married, raised five children, got her MBA and had a 26-year career with AT&T.
She joined Experience Corps last fall after recovering from breast cancer, and she likes it so much she expects to continue in the fall. The kids keep her moving, she said, and her arthritis seems to diminish.
