Tara Prendergast ’12

student

When Tara Kane Prendergast (‘12) speaks of Alice, her expressions grow noticeably animated with excitement. Alice is a ten-year-old girl who Tara has tutored for the past two years, and Tara beams when describing their time together.

Alice and her family are Burundian refugees whom Tara has worked with as a member of Brown Refugee Youth Tutoring and Enrichment (BRYTE) since her freshman year. “When I met them, the only word we had in common was hello”, she recalls.

Since then, Tara has traveled twice a week to South Providence where she tutors Alice and assists the family in its cultural adjustment to the United States. As Alice’s ability to read and write expanded and as her relationship with Tara strengthened, Tara realized the depth of the impact she was making: “I began to see what I was doing with my time was making a tremendous difference,” she says. “Not only in Alice, but in my own life. I was learning; it was an exchange. This seemed an incredible model to me. “

For Tara, the personal connection she has forged with Alice and her family is what makes BRYTE’s work most compelling. In her opinion, the work of BRYTE volunteers is as much about the transfer of practical skills as it is about rebuilding the spirits of those who have survived disruptive resettlement to the U.S.

BRYTE began as a small group of Brown students in 2006. It has since grown into a network of 130 volunteers who regularly tutor individuals referred by the International Institute of Rhode Island. It also administers community art projects and cultural events for refugee families.

Tara’s involvement with BRYTE has evolved from volunteer, to coordinator, to head-coordinator, a position she begins during the Fall of 2010. Funding from the C.V. Starr Fellowship during the summer of 2010 allowed her to prepare for this role and focus on ‘big picture thinking’ in planning BRYTE’s future. Part of this involved creating a ‘resource map’ of Providence afterschool and arts programming, which BRYTE hopes to partner with in the future.

Tara cites the Swearer Center as an important source of support and guidance in her community work. As a freshman, her experience in the University Community Academic Advising Program (UCAAP) widened her conception of life as a Brown student. “UCAAP introduced me to the idea that my community was Providence, not just Brown,” she says. Tara describes the staff of the Swearer Center as “continual mentors” over the next years, when she narrowed her many activities to focused work with BRYTE. They challenged her to think critically about issues of solidarity, and carefully consider the challenges of working with communities of diverse backgrounds.

Tara’s motto for community work echoes that of the Swearer Center: quality over quantity. “I constantly have to be checking my own ego; making sure I’m engaging in work for the right reasons- making sure I feel I’m making a difference, ” she says. She advises younger students to focus on work “which allows yourself time to become invested”; to choose activities offering the richest, fullest experience. After two years with BRYTE, Tara’s strong relationship with Alice is testimony to the value of committed work.

images

links

http://students.brown.edu/BRYTE/index.html
BRYTE