At Chicago schools, alumni get their hands dirty

Taking to heart the University's unofficial motto of "Princeton in the Nation's Service," a number of alumni have taken a break from retirement to get their hands dirty with chalk, helping out in Chicago public schools.

Last week, Oren Pollock GS '51 joined more than 600 volunteers designated by the Chicago Board of Education to serve as principals for the day, engaging firsthand with public school administrators. His efforts were supported by the Alumni for Public Schools group, which he and John Fish '55 formed in 2001 to develop partnerships between alumni clubs in Chicago and local public high schools.

For Pollock, the program provided an opportunity to give back to their community and help out some struggling public schools.

"Those of us who have been fortunate enough to get a good college education must take the chance to help kids in public schools and maybe try to give something back," said Pollock, who graduated from Williams College and received a masters in classics from Princeton.

In partnership with the Princeton Club of Chicago, he has spent the past 13 years working as a math teaching assistant at Roosevelt Public High School, which Fish described as a "marginal, multicultural, low-performance school." Pollock transitioned into this program after serving on the Alumni Council's committee on community service after graduation.

Fish first became involved in public education through his work on the Princeton Project 55 public interest program. The efforts of Project 55 to "mobilize alumni to address social issues and public interests" motivated him to expand upon the role of alumni clubs. After a career as an urban studies professor at the Associated Colleges of the Midwest, he dedicated himself to volunteering through the network of alumni clubs.

"Alumni clubs are an underutilized network," Fish said, "especially for young people who are looking for community service opportunities."

When Alumni for Public Schools kicked off in 2002, only five alumni clubs participated: Duke, Harvard, Princeton, Stanford and the University of Michigan.

"It was slow going," Fish said, until the Princeton club hired a full-time staff person in 2005. Since then, more then 24 alumni clubs have joined the effort, and Fish is optimistic for further expansion.

"Public education in the United States is in a critical situation," he said. "And helping in the inner city schools energizes the alumni club and gives young alumni participating a way to work together on a project and learn about their city."