Tharptown senior chosen for leadership camp

Mariah Hodge, a senior at Tharptown, was chosen to participate in an exclusive leadership training course held at Auburn University.

Tharptown senior Mariah Hodge enjoys helping other people, especially in an academic setting.
To satisfy her desire to lend a helping hand, she has made herself available to tutor students from kindergarten through sixth grade in all subject areas for the last couple of years.
While she feels qualified to offer help to the students she tutors, Hodge said she knows there is always room for improvement, no matter what it is you do, so when she heard about an opportunity to hone her leadership and communication skills this past summer, she jumped at the chance.
Hodge was one of 20 high school students statewide who were chosen to participate in the 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) Summer Camp, which is a weeklong camp sponsored by the Auburn University’s Truman Pierce Institute faculty and staff in conjunction with the Alabama State Department of Education.
Hodge said she found out about the camp from Samantha Bain, a teacher at Tharptown High School who knew about Hodge’s tutoring experience.
“The camp is mainly for high school students who tutor at afterschool programs or on their own time,” Hodge said. “Ms. Bain contacted me when she received the e-mail about the camp because she thought with my tutoring experience I might be interested, and I was.”
Hodge, who had to apply and be accepted to the camp before getting to attend, said the group of students spent the week of June 3 – 8 on the Auburn University campus learning how to better themselves in many different areas.
“There were so many different activities we got to participate in that week,” Hodge said. “Every time we turned around there was something new for us to do or learn about.”
According to 21st CCLC Summer Camp officials, the camp is designed to provide field experiences in life sciences where students learn about fisheries, horticulture and forestry; provide enrichment activities incorporating nature into literature, art and music; and to provide positive experiences on a college campus.
All this is done with the goal that the student will become better tutors, will help more people and will hopefully consider a career in education where they can continue to help students on a daily basis.
“I really feel like I learned a lot just in the five days we were there,” she said. “We did a lot of hands-on activities like learning about the fisheries and ecosystems in Alabama and breaking into groups and coming up with a fictional problem and practicing how to tutor one another.
“We also had a group of teachers from Auburn who came in to teach us different writing and acting skills that will help us with our communication and help us be more open when we’re tutoring.”
She said they also had time to do things like swim, play kickball and take a tour through Auburn’s locker room and stadium – a highlight of the trip for Hodge who is a big Auburn fan.
“I really enjoyed the fun activities and the time we spent and doing leadership-building activities that really helped us bond as a group,” she said. “By the time we left, we all felt like we were lifelong friends and it helped me see how to build relationships with people in the future, which will be beneficial when I’m tutoring.”
Hodge said she felt like the training she received at the camp will not only help her be a better tutor but will help her be a better student leader as well.
“I’m the president of the student council, so this training will help me make better decisions for the school and for the students,” Hodge said.
She added that part of the camp included a provision that each student would be involved in an afterschool training program when they returned home, and Hodge said she’s ready to get started applying her newfound skills.
“I’ll be working with the afterschool program here pretty soon and I’m excited to use the knowledge I gained at the camp,” she said. “Just knowing I’m helping someone do better in school is a reward for me because school is the foundation for the rest of your life.”