Pioneer Education Programs

Supporting education, especially literacy, is the focal point of many Pioneers initiatives. Pioneers education programs address the needs of young people, with an emphasis on literacy, personal development, technology skills, and mentoring. We have several programs specifically designed for disadvantaged or disabled children.

Check out some of our stories below. Find your local chapter or club and volunteer today!

For Pioneers in rural Missouri, supplying local elementary schools with e-readers encouraged both reading and technology literacy. Through the Fire Up to Read with Kindle project, Pioneers aimed to promote reading, help students develop lifelong reading habits, and to motivate and enhance the reading experience. The project also had the benefit of giving students access to new technology.

Rural and low income schools were chosen to receive the Kindles because they often have fewer staff, less resources, and limited budgets for modernizing their technology. These constraints make it difficult for schools to have the tools they need to encourage students to become strong readers. Local teachers and librarians have been thrilled with the new Kindles. Teachers are using the Kindles for extra reading resources, academic assessments, and in guided reading groups. The Kindles have also saved schools additional money because of the free books teachers can access.

The Kindles have been a big help for struggling readers who are using them to build fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary – and they are having fun doing it! The Kindles are also giving students access to a wider variety of literature. Since e-books are delivered instantly, students can access interesting books that the school may not have in hard copy.

At Lakewood Park Elementary School in Ft. Pierce, Florida, Pioneers are helping take care of children in need. In this school, they encourage reading by having each student set a goal to read a certain number of books. At the end of the school year, those who have reached their goal earn an achievement award and a gift card. Local Pioneers bought additional books and gift cards to encourage the children’s interest in reading by making it fun and rewarding.

For many students, the books provided by the school library are the only ones they’ll ever read. But these Pioneers were only getting started. While mentoring the children, they became aware that some students were going without food over the weekends. So they created “Grace Packs” – bags filled with healthy snacks and meals for the boys and girls to take home on Fridays.

The Pioneers also noticed there were students who desperately needed shoes, underclothes, and jackets. In response, the volunteers set up a clothes closet to provide new and “gently used” shoes and clothes. By providing books, food, and clothing to the students, these Pioneers truly showed the importance of lending a helping hand in any way that they can.

The Kansas chapter of Pioneers runs a project called Students and Teachers Too that assists new teachers. Pioneers provide these new teachers funding and/or school supplies to help them optimize their classrooms for learning. Many schools that the project helps are Title I and in rural communities, so the teachers need the support.

Pioneers deliver the school supplies to the teachers, along with a few books for all the students in class and additional books for a classroom library. Pioneers make sure to provide a wide range of books that include selections that students are likely to read.