Another year for Elder means another year for the neighboring schools in the Price Hill community.

Along with that school year comes Community Service, a religion elective designed for Elder students to go out on their own to the neighboring schools to tutor the students one-on-one or in small groups. Essentially, it takes some of the pressure off of the teacher for a short time, helps the students of the schools learn, and gives the Elder students a sense of accomplishment for helping those in need.

The Community Service class has been offered at Elder since the late ‘70’s, and the Price Hill community has always been thankful for the help; however, next year, Elder will be needed even more. The Ohio Department of Education has passed a law called “Ohio’s Third Grade Reading Guarantee” stating that students entering the third grade in 2013-2014 school year in public schools may not be promoted to the fourth unless they pass a state reading test.

“I think we could be a huge help with the [Ohio reading] test,” said Mr. Auer, the head of the Community Service program.

The Ohio Department of Education says that having this guarantee will give incentive to the students, parents and their teachers to excel in school. More students will learn how to read and provide them with skills they will need later in life.

The Ohio Department of Education says if the students lack reading skills, which is said to be one of the most essential subjects in life, it will hold them back in other subjects as well.

The guarantee will provide early attention towards those at-risk students at a young age.

Many people are concerned with Ohio’s decision to pass this law, because the schools that might need this law for students may not have the resources or funding to keep these students in the third grade. Ohio also passed a law like this in the ‘90’s, and it didn’t work.

With Elder’s help, the public schools in the area hope to pass as many students along to the fourth grade as possible.

“It shows me how blessed I am that my family can provide such a good life for me,” senior Drew Paolercio said. “It feels good helping others that need it.”

Though many students initially take Community Service class to get away from school for 45 minutes, it turns into something more. Going out to these neighboring schools allows students to see a part of society they may never get to experience first-hand, and make it better. In the end, we all help each other.