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On Tuesday, Nov. 3, students from Old Dominion Job Corps Center, who have been involved in a tutoring program sponsored by Sweet Briar’s Student Office of Community Outreach, visited the College for a reason that didn’t involve studying.

The social event, held in cooperation with the Sweet Briar Museum, started with lunch at the museum and was followed by a ghost tour that took the eight Job Corps students to Sweet Briar House and Mary Helen Cochran Library.

The tutoring program began during the 2008-2009 academic year. It pairs Sweet Briar students with students from Job Corps, a residential career training program located south of the College in Amherst County.

The Job Corps students, young women in their late teens and early 20s, are studying for the Test of Adult Basic Education. The TABE is a prerequisite at Job Corps for taking the general education development certification, better known as the GED.

For nine weeks last spring, hour-long tutoring sessions — called the “Power Hour” — were held from 3 to 4 p.m. on Wednesdays in Benedict Hall. When Sweet Briar’s classes resumed this fall, so did the “Power Hour,” but the program has expanded to twice a week, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Nine SBC students are currently working as tutors, as is staff member Joan Lucy, who directs the College's leadership certificate program.

Sweet Briar’s 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, and Loftus acted as management consultant.

The office 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.