Under the direction of Dr. Michelle McCargish and Mrs. Sharon Jorski, the students of OSSM are completing community service through a collaborative effort with Mrs. Carolyn Camfield, the first through fourth grade reading teacher at Optima Elementary School in the Panhandle of Oklahoma.  

Mrs. Camfield was searching for supplemental literacy instruction resources with her school’s students.  She located numerous sets of resources that provide practice and instruction with phonemic awareness, phonics, reading fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary, which would be fabulous for her students.  Sounds great … right? However, the individual activity cards all needed to have the black and white illustrations colorized and then laminated for durability.  This was a daunting task. Enter Dr. McCargish and students from OSSM with their generous servant hearts.  

The OSSM students are coloring and laminating the learning activities in their spare time between classes, projects, and studying.  The project not only provides OSSM students community service hours, stress relief, and a sense of giving back, but it also provides Mrs. Camfield and her students hundreds of research-based, engaging supplemental activities with a personal touch.  “These high school students have no idea the support they provide for the students on their journey to become proficient readers,” stated Mrs. Camfield. 

“I know we’re a STEM school,” says Dr. McCargish, “but I am passionate about supporting literacy, reading, and rural education in my work and outreach. Students rarely become great scientists without first becoming readers. I am very proud of our students for contributing their time and artistic flourishes to this project.”