PAIRing up to improve life in Houston
Two Rice students awarded Mayor’s Volunteer Houston Award

BY JESSICA STARK
Rice News staff

This week two students from Rice University received one of the city’s most prestigious recognitions: the Mayor’s Volunteer Houston Award. For their work with the Partnership for the Advancement and Immersion of Refugees (PAIR), Sid Richardson College junior Teresa Yeh and McMurtry College senior Ann Chou are two of 11 Houstonians being honored this year.

Founded in 2006 as a Rice student group, PAIR aims to help refugee youth adapt to life in the U.S. and succeed in school. In 2007, PAIR became a 501C3 nonprofit organization. Just this year, they established a PAIR chapter at the University of Houston to help serve the city’s growing refugee community.

	Teresa Yeh (top right) and Ann Chou (bottom right) received the Mayor’s Volunteer Houston Award for their work with the Partnership for the Advancement and Immersion of Refugees (PAIR). They are pictured with some of the refugee youth they serve.

“Though it’s a nonprofit organization, Rice PAIR is led by student volunteers,” said Yeh, vice president of the program at Rice. “It is the students who are leading programs, developing curriculum and establishing good relationships with refugee students. As a college student, PAIR gives you the chance to connect one-on-one with refugee children and youth from countries far, far away – and to learn from one another and really invest in the lives of our PAIR kids.”

PAIR estimates that each year up to 2,000 refugees come to Houston. The youth participating in PAIR hail from around the world and in recent years, more than 10 countries have been represented, including Thailand, Somalia, Iraq and Afghanistan.

PAIR comprises four programs: Mentoring and Tutoring held Monday through Thursday at Fondren Middle School; Saturday Sessions, a cultural immersion experience; College Counseling, a college prep session Mondays and Wednesdays at Westbury High School; and College Orientation Day, a once-a-semester field trip touring local college campuses, including Rice.

Mentoring and Tutoring

Chou has been instrumental in growing PAIR’s mentoring and tutoring program since she began volunteering for it in 2008. Under her leadership, the program has grown from 10 volunteers to more than 60 weekly volunteers. Those volunteers each take about four hours every week to attend planning meetings sessions and other PAIR-related activities.

“It’s not pity or sympathy that moves us to help these students; it’s mostly a realization that ‘Hey, we were once in their shoes too, struggling through middle school and figuring out who we were,'” Chou said. “There’s more that binds us together than keeps us apart. These refugee students are just like any other kids.”

Each week, the Rice students carpool over to the school at about 4 p.m., set up classrooms and prepare for the students’ arrival shortly thereafter. They begin each session with “the circle of power and respect” (CPR) in which they sit in a circle and hold an open discussion about a focused topic. The Rice volunteers guide the younger students in using respectful dialogue and sharing about their days. They also discuss topics such as bullying, friendships, movies and the Internet.

From the CPR, students transition into mentoring groups of about five members with three Rice volunteers who lead English activities or help with English homework assignments. After an hour of group work, they move onto a classwide activity, such as a game, role-playing or sports. The volunteers then see the students to their buses, clean up and have a short feedback session.

“Ann has tremendous energy and enthusiasm for educating disadvantaged youth,” said Jenelle Thomson, the AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer who manages the Mentoring and Tutoring program. “I have witnessed a rare natural teaching ability within Ann. She can easily break down any assignment to a student’s level of understanding, making up games on the spot or acting things out to help them learn concepts. Going above and beyond, as always, Ann took a course on ESL teaching methods this past semester and put the methods into practice in the after-school program.”

Award-worthy outreach

Thomson and her colleagues at PAIR nominated Chou and Yeh for the service award because of the sustained commitment they have given, the contribution they have made and the impact they have had on program growth.

“Ann and Teresa have contributed an enormous amount to PAIR’s capacity to serve young refugees,” said Nicole Ellis, PAIR’s executive director. “They are an absolute dream to work with. They go above and beyond what we expect of our student leaders, doing not only what we request of them, but more. They are always full of creative ideas to enhance and grow our programs and are an integral part of the success of our organization.”

Yeh and Chou’s ability to reach out to their peers also earned them the nod for the award.

“I tell Rice students that volunteerism is not just a line on their resumes, but choices to commit to something greater than themselves,” Chou said. “Volunteering isn’t just a once-a-semester task to check off a list or a means to an end; it’s a chance to re-orient your life to the greatest needs of the world around you, and in the process, grow as a student, teacher and leader in the classroom and community.”

Chou stands true to her word. In addition to her work with PAIR, she held a global health internship through Rice 360