Reporting by the White Plains City School District

A group of fifth-grade students at Church Street Elementary School enjoyed special recess activities on Friday, as they were joined by their mentors – volunteers from Grandpas United – for tabletop games such as Battleship and Jenga.

“Our grandpa volunteers have watched these kids grow up over the past few years,” said Sam Scafidi, assistant program coordinator for Grandpas United.

Volunteers have been playing games with the students since they were in third grade. As they’ve watched the kids grow, they’ve also watched their interests change.

“The games have evolved as they’ve gotten older into more complex games,” Mr. Scafidi added. “We have more kids who are interested in chess, whereas before, they were more interested in things like Connect 4. The goal is to encourage positive role models in these students’ lives, and they seem to really enjoy it.”

For the past few years, the grandpas have visited Church Street twice a month for their mentoring and gaming sessions. Students have become comfortable with their mentors over the years, even changing the rules when they play games like Uno and Battleship (at least when it benefits them).

“I like that we can go against them in games and we can play with them,” said Gael Malacatus, a fifth-grade student at Church Street. He also explained that the grandpas have given him advice and encouraged him in positive ways.

“Sometimes they give us rice crispies or snacks when we do good things,” Gael said, explaining how the grandpas encourage positive behavior.

When the idea of mentoring students was first conceived, members of Grandpas United made sure that they knew the best ways to reach students. To do this, they began ongoing training with social workers to give them the tools they need to support children of different age groups. Currently, volunteers continue to work on their mentoring skills on weeks when they don’t visit the school.

“The thing that happens is that the games are sort of an icebreaker,” said John Steward, a volunteer for Grandpas United. “From that, we have the interactions with the kids.
And it’s not just the grandpas teaching the kids things; some of the kids have taught us things like chess. So, it’s a two-way street.”

On Friday, grandpas taught students a new dice game: Ship, Captain, Crew. At the end of the year, this group will move on to Eastview Middle School, and the grandpas plan to start with a new set of students to continue their impact.

Grandpas United describes itself as “a growing network of grandfathers (and grandfather figures) who come together to enjoy time with each other, mentor youth, inspire fathers and strengthen our communities.” Volunteers support White Plains families through other programs such as JumpStart for Dads, where they help fathers build positive parenting skills. Click here to read more about Grandpas United.