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For nine weeks this semester, a group of Sweet Briar students tutored young women from the Old Dominion Job Corps Center, a residential career training program located south of the College in Amherst County.

In their late teens and early 20s, the women are studying for the Test of Adult Basic Education, a prerequisite at Job Corps for taking the general education development certification, better known as the GED. The hour-long sessions — called the "Power Hour" — were held from 3 to 4 p.m. on Wednesdays in Benedict Hall and were started by the Student Office of Community Outreach.

Also known as SOCO, the Student Office of Community Outreach was launched as a pilot project last fall by students in Tom Loftus' Business Practicum class. The students were supervised by Robyn Sanderson, director of student involvement and programming, Loftus acted as management consultant.

SOCO was created out of a desire expressed by several campus groups — the business management program, the PACE (Promoting Academic and Community Engagement) scholarship program, the co-curricular life office and others — to provide more community service opportunities for students.

Last fall, SOCO organized the Campus Wide Day of Service and this spring the "Power Hour" was born. According to Loftus, they plan to continue the tutoring program in the fall, possibly two days a week to give more SBC students the opportunity to participate.

So far, the collaboration between the all-woman's college and the job training center seems to be a worthwhile effort. "The students appreciate it and look forward to coming," Sarita Nowlin, coordinator of the STARS — Speakers, Tutors, Achievement, Retention, Success — program at Job Corps, said midway through the program.

If you talked to the Sweet Briar students, faculty and staff who tutored the same Job Corps student each week in English, math or both, it seems the feeling was mutual.

"It's really fun," Elizabeth Baker '10 said on week three. "They're fun girls. I made a deal with mine. She's taking culinary [classes at Job Corps]. If I taught her math, she'd teach me how to cook."

Alison Bailey had tutored in the past at the Liberty Godparent Home in Lynchburg. She plans to teach high school biology when she graduates from Sweet Briar next year, but tutoring the Job Corps students has made her wonder whether tutoring is more her calling than traditional teaching.

"I really like tutoring," she said. "I'd probably rather be a tutor than a teacher."

Loftus, who tutored three Job Corp students himself, also found the experience gratifying. "The most rewarding part for me was when the girls would say, 'Wow! I understand that now. Give me a harder problem!' It's fun teaching at Sweet Briar, but I don't often have students saying, 'Wow! That's great! Teach me some more!' "

Joan Lucy, director of Sweet Briar's Leadership Certificate Program, also tutored. In her "past life," Lucy said she worked with disadvantaged students with non-profit organizations and in an outdoor adventure-based counseling program.

"I miss working with those kinds of folks," she said. "These girls have signed up for the programs with Old Dominion. They want to avail themselves to the resources. They want to better their lives."

Loftus was particularly impressed by one of the students he tutored in math. "She's very bright and eager to learn," he said. "It's just wonderful tutoring her because she has a light bulb go off [and says], 'Oh, I get it. Let me write that down!' She has some math tricks of her own that she showed me. She has a finger method of multiplying by nines that I'd never seen before."

On Wednesday, April 29, the Job Corps students came to Sweet Briar — not for studying math and English but for a tour of the campus with their tutors. Led by tutor and admissions tour guide Catie Gumpman '10, the group visited Memorial Chapel, where they took photos of the pipe organ; toured a residence hall; learned about Sweet Briar's founders on Monument Hill; and went to the riding center to see the horses.

"The girls were fascinated with the horses and got to pet some, and went inside the riding rink," Loftus said. "One of the [Sweet Briar] girls was exercising her horse and they got a big kick out of that."

During the tour, Loftus said three or four Job Corps students expressed an interest in attending Sweet Briar. Anticipating this reaction, admissions counselor Autum Fish was on hand to explain the admissions process, from passing the GED and application deadlines to letters of recommendation and financial aid.

Loftus said one of the Job Corp staff members that accompanied the group pulled him aside at one point and said, "This has been really good for the girls. We've seen some improvement in their test scores, but having an off-campus excursion each week to look forward to had a real morale boost for them."

The afternoon's events concluded with Subway sandwiches and sodas at Reid Pit. The Job Corps students also presented their tutors with thank-you cards and $15 gift cards for Panera. "I thought that was totally unexpected and absolutely wonderful," Loftus said, adding that he found the whole experience to be "fun and hugely personally rewarding."