Transforming Lives Through Literacy and Service
The Student Literacy Corps (SLC) is a community service program through which Webster students are trained as reading tutors and serve in local schools providing one-on-one support to new and struggling readers of all ages.
Created in 1990, this innovative model for education was designed with the dual purpose of benefiting university students through service-learning experience and low-literacy populations through individualized, consistent tutoring. SLC participation has a transformative impact on both the students it serves and the tutors who assist them.
Making a Difference
Kathryn Hayden, Teacher, Gateway MST Elementary
BA in Elementary Education, ’19
"Tutoring for Webster University's Literacy Corps helped me find my true purpose in life ... I continue to teach students that they can be anything they want to be, if they put their minds to it."
Shelby Morgan
BA in Creative Writing, ’22
“I've found that students, regardless of age, respond really well to our materials. It's always an amazing feeling when students, especially those reluctant to read, learn that there are books out there for them.”
Find Out How SLC is Making a Difference
Transcript
(coming soon)
How to Get Involved
Student Literacy Corps tutors support new and struggling readers through weekly in-person visits to their school. Tutors work closely with their students' teachers to address specific skills and concepts. Their lessons are often supplemented with books and learning activities chosen to meet individual students' interests and needs.
Federal Work-Study
If you are an undergraduate eligible for Federal Work-Study, you may be able to use that award to work with the Student Literacy Corps. Check in with the SLC coordinator and the Student Employment Coordinator to pursue this opportunity.
Contact
Contact Student Literacy Corps Director Kate Northcott in the School of Education for more information about SLC and how to support it or participate.
Phone: 314-968-7479
Email: northcot@webster.edu
Tutors Learning Through Service
Michael Guthrie
A Marine Corps veteran who double majored in Secondary Education and History, Michael Guthrie is now a high school Social Studies teacher. He found his calling through SLC. He tutored refugee and immigrant students at Nahed Chapman New American Academy, and described the experience as life-changing.
“I’ve never felt so much pride and satisfaction with any other work. These kids are adjusting to a new culture, just like I did after the military. I connect with that feeling. SLC helped me realize I truly want to teach.”
Guthrie’s dedication earned him the Dean’s Award for Service, and his story reflects the deep personal growth that SLC fosters.
Michael Guthrie and his wife, Anna, who is also a Webster alum, '18
Josh King
“My work with the SLC has been a testament to a cultivated future: a collection of second chances for people who might otherwise be considered ‘lost’ by education.
"I had the honor of working with returning students -- many adults -- who were studying to obtain their GEDs in a night course in South City, St. Louis. Much of my role was just about clarifying, dispelling or helping ease the anxiety about learning itself. On more than one occasion, a small 'ah-ha' moment was all it took, and they'd be off: flying through the material with confidence and even a wry sense of joy! It was such a beautiful and inspiring thing to witness and help facilitate where I could. As I think back, the students I connected with in SLC helped me identify and understand several core puzzles of pedagogy. Above all, they left a lasting personification of the courage, tenacity and humility it takes to be a life-long learner."
King graduated in 2008 and is now Vice President of Grants and Compliance at the Metropolitan Organization to Counter Sexual Assault (MOCSA).
“Being a tutor with SLC ... helped me deepen my passion for teaching. Seeing the joy of learning and 'aha' moments shine on my students' faces was the highlight of every tutoring session.”
MA in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, ’21