Step Up! Mizzou met for its first meeting of the semester Tuesday night to discuss the organization’s plans for the upcoming semester and to inform new and potential members about the organization’s mission and how to become involved.
“Step Up! Mizzou is a smaller scale, campus-based chapter of the bigger Step Up! (American Association for Rwandan Women), a national organization which seeks to empower women survivors of the Rwandan genocide,” Step Up! Mizzou president Kate Hrdina said.
The student organization is dedicated to assisting Columbia’s community of African refugees and immigrants by partnering MU students with school-aged refugees and immigrant children so they may tutor and interact with them.
Senior Lauren Wepprich said Step Up! Mizzou was founded during the 2009-10 school year when a group of students returned to MU after studying abroad in Rwanda. They decided they wanted to stay involved with the situation in Rwanda and assist refugees and immigrants living in Columbia. These families come from Burundi and the Congo, as well as Rwanda.
“Our main focus is on tutoring,” Hrdina said. “Anyone who wants to get involved just needs to commit to tutoring for two hours one or more times each week. Each time you go to tutor you will be paired with another member and the two of you will go out to one of the two neighborhoods in Columbia where most of the refugees live to tutor and interact with some kids at their home.”
Hrdina emphasized that tutors not only help the kids with their homework but also hang out with them and try to integrate them into the Columbia community.
In addition to tutoring, Step Up! Mizzou members are also encouraged to attend the weekly church service for the Rwandan community that is held at the J.W. Blind Boone Community Center in Columbia. These Presbyterian services, held at 5 p.m. each Sunday, are open to the public but primarily attended by members of Columbia’s African refugee and immigrant community, including many of the children who are tutored by members of Step Up! Mizzou.
Step Up! Mizzou also attempts to raise awareness among its members and the MU community at large about the Rwandan genocide that has resulted in many of the refugees’ arrivals in Columbia. The organization is planning to host genocide-related discussions and guest speakers throughout the semester.
One guest speaker the organization is already planning on is Consolee Nishimwe, the author of “Tested to the Limit,” a book about her experiences as a survivor of the genocide.
“I am pretty excited about everything we have planned for this semester,” Hrdina said. “We had a good first meeting tonight. There were a lot of fresh faces and people seemed excited about what we have going on and getting involved.”
Junior Sydney Henley decided to come to the meeting after hearing about it from a friend. Step Up! Mizzou involves service and tutoring, and Henley said she wants to be a teacher.
“After coming here tonight, I plan on getting involved because it sounds like a good program and a worthwhile use of my time,” Henley said. “I like how in this program you are going into the kids’ homes and get to know them more personally, which is different from another program I was involved with in the past where you tutored kids in a classroom setting.”
In attempting to bring in new members, Hrdina said the group seeks to emphasize what makes tutoring for Step Up! Mizzou a unique opportunity.
“What makes us a little different from other tutoring programs is that you really get to know the kids and families you are tutoring on a personal level,” Hrdina said.
Step Up! Mizzou, which continues to accept new members, will host its next meeting Feb. 19.