Camden Collective is homework help and social balm in the time of COVID-19
Photos and text by David Pierini staff reporter
As the fear of a swiftly spreading coronavirus shutdown schools and social gatherings, things soon “felt weird” to sixth-grader Ibrahim Ibrahim.
Kira Drescher thinks through a homework problem with tutor, Martha Hoeppner ready to assist.
“It was different,” he said. “It felt like a zombie apocalypse.”
Siblings Ibstam, right, and Ibrahim Ibrahim play a game with tutor André Borka (left).
Ibrahim said so in a space free of an apocalyptic feeling and in the company of other kids and a few adults shepherding them through game play and homework. Two afternoons a week, the Camden Collective Learning Center brings a sense of pre-Covid-19 normalcy to more than a half-dozen kids – and the adults who tutor them – in the basement of Salem Evangelical Lutheran Church, 4150 Dupont Ave. N.
Camden Collective was the idea of teacher Anna Gerdeen, a resident of the Camden-Webber neighborhood who worried that students in her community would regress from remote learning to peers from families able to afford reliable internet access or a private tutor. The idea of families coming together to form learning pods began to crop up in July and August when it became apparent that many school districts, including Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS), would start the year in distance learning.
Students had already felt isolated having been cut off from sharing a physical space with friends and classmates since March. MPS administrators also noticed declines in math and reading performance they attributed in part to the absence of the kind of one-on-one time with a teacher that naturally occurs in a classroom.
Lead tutor Martha Hoeppner (center) begins a Thursday session with a group activity and reminder of rules relating to COVID-19.
“I think it’s important for kids to have a structure and sense of community and that’s what we’re trying to build with a small group of kids,” Gerdeen said. “We’re not trying to replicate the entire school day. This is a place where they can feel like they’re a part of something, get some homework done, play games and just be kids.”
For now, the Learning Center runs for two hours after the school day each Tuesday and Thursday. Everyone is required to wear a mask and the room is large enough for students and volunteer tutors to break up into small clusters of two or three with social distancing in mind.
The volunteers are a mix of former teachers and teachers in training. The first 30 minutes is for a group activity, like with the game charades, then an hour or so of homework, followed by free time for kids to play board games, draw pictures or finish up homework.
Each child fills out a form at the beginning of each session to list to-dos and goals for the two-hour period.
“Even as a parent, I think it’s nice to come to a space that’s different from the confines of your own home,” said Martha Hoeppner, the lead tutor. “Even if they are not fully integrated with other kids, we do a nice gouger. It’s socialization for mental health. It’s hard to see the kids in isolation. Human beings are meant for that.”
The Learning Center ran for a few weeks during the fall semester at a different Northside church before it temporarily shut down when the state issued stricter guidelines on social gatherings as transmission numbers rose sharply.
The collective, a non-profit, started the Learning Center back up in the middle of January in a spacious recreation room in the basement of Salem. The church has also offered additional space should the collective grow, which, Gerdeen says, is the goal.
To show the collective’s potential of being more than an after-school program, volunteers distribute 75 boxes of food every Wednesday evening. The food boxes are funded through the Sanneh Foundation.
“Our intent is to expand and continue providing youth educational support and mentoring even when students go to school full time,” Gerdeen said. “There’s some fabulous talent coming in and helping us right now.”
Families can email info@thecamdencollective.org for enrollment information. You can also visit www.thecamdencollective.org