PHOTO COURTESY OF TERRY WORONOV Anthropology senior Melissa Mayer (center front row), anthropology master's student Daniela Diamente (second from left, middle row), and anthropology senior Peter Poer (far left, middle row), with TUSD middle school students enrolled in the Outreach project.

Anthropology students with the Bureau of Applied Research in Anthropology have spent the last month deeply involved within the Tucson community conducting the Doolen refugee outreach program.

After spending the last year conducting research on refugees, students developed this program in conjunction with Tucson Unified School District.

TUSD selected students from a summer English-as-a-second-language intensive for the program. This program is offered as a free service.

The program was comprised of 26 children from Doolen, Mansfeld and Naylor middle schools. Four of these children were recent immigrants and the rest were refugees from Somalia, Liberia and the Sudan.

The program was developed to teach kids "survival" skills to help cope with the transition into urban areas, more specifically Tucson.

During the month of June, children and their undergraduate mentors went on a variety of different excursions which included learning to swim at the UA recreation center, visiting the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, spending time at the public library and even taking a trip to the Flandrau Science Center and Planetarium.

This program was funded entirely through donations from local businesses and a grant from the UA Foundation.

According to Rodney Campbell, director of communications for the UA Foundation, the Doolen refugee outreach program was given a grant for $1,450 to help cover expenses.

"According to the proposal submitted, this program is designed to teach English skills to children whose native language doesn't have a written form." said Jennifer Hamnett, a student assistant at the UA Foundation.

UA participants really think that this program has helped the students acclimate to a new environment and grow as individuals.

"I think it has been a really positive experience for them. Even their teachers have said that the individual attention has really helped them blossom," said Daniela Diamente, anthropology graduate student.

The final day of the 2005 Doolen refugee outreach program will be on Thursday, June 30th.

"Overall, we have had several successful areas and have given these kids the opportunity to use the skills outside the classroom, given more individualized attention and developed great interpersonal skills," said Terry Woronov, assistant professor of anthropology.

Plans exist to continue the program next summer as long as additional funding sources are still available.

"All of our grants are given out on a one time basis. They need to be applied for each year and the committee will base a decision on the information provided by the department seeking continued funding," Hamnett said.