02.28.2011

The Best Part of CWJC

It’s a pretty common theme among women studying at CWJC’s Madison Satellite – you’ll hear them talking about the homework Charlene has assigned them, or joking how hard Charlene was on them.

The Charlene in question is Charlene Bryant, a Belmont University music business student who has tutored at the Madison campus for the last year and a half. Raised by a single mom in Canton, Ohio, Charlene came to Nashville after a year of college and several years of working for Verizon Wireless in Columbus, Ohio. She stumbled upon CWJC while researching work-study positions through her school.

“At first I was intimidated to work with adults because I have only tutored children before,” she says, “but this has ultimately been an amazing, rewarding and life changing experience for me!”

“The best part of CWJC is the relationships that these women build with the tutors as with each other,” she continued. “I also think that this program is amazing overall—offering current events, decision making, budgeting and other helpful classes to help the women become better people academically and in general.”

A typical night of tutoring sees Charlene offer specialized teaching in a particular subject, and women who need additional help in that area will follow Charlene into a room where that subject is the focus. While she does explain and teach the rules of the subject, she also makes sure the women can apply the concepts, so she often has them work problems out on the boards individually and in groups.

Charlene is a popular tutor at the Madison campus for several reasons, but most importantly, she holds students accountable while at the same time giving them the tools and support they need to do their very best.

“The most rewarding part is seeing these women conquer a challenge or achieve a goal,” Charlene says. “Then to watch women graduate and go to the next level of their lives and become college students or enter the work force with great jobs, that’s awesome. Overall just watching them change and become more confident and successful is the most rewarding thing of all.”