THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, May 10, 1996 TAG: 9605080113
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Thumbs Up
SOURCE: BY JOHN-HENRY DOUCETTE, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 95 lines
Children know they can turn to Avelyn M. Chambers.
She helps them at Thurgood Marshall Elementary School, where she is a guidance counselor and founder of a flourishing program that teaches students study skills.
She is there for them at St. Thomas AME Zion Church, where she and fellow volunteers tutor young congregation members.
Her burgundy and gray 1986 Aerostar is so recognizable in the low-income neighborhoods formerly known as Foundation Park that her hands spend more time waving at children than holding the steering wheel.
Chambers, 42, has been helping young people in Chesapeake for 15 years. For her philanthropy, she was awarded the Fitz Turner Humanitarian Award at a ceremony in Roanoke last month.
The honor, awarded annually by the Virginia Education Association, comes at a time when Chambers' main project is enjoying its greatest success.
Chambers began the Homework Program in 1989 after several years teaching special education at Thurgood Marshall. Starting out with a handful of second- and third-graders and a pair of volunteers, Chambers strove to find practical ways to help children who weren't picking up concepts in class.
``A lot of times children may not have gotten full understanding of skills in class,'' Chambers said. ``We reinforce those skills before they go home and practice them.''
Children who participate meet three times a week after school with tutors. Year after year, the program has resulted in significant improvement in students' grades, Chambers said.
Demand for the program grew, as did support. A recent grant boosted the staff from five volunteers to 16 paid workers. There are 75 students enrolled.
LaNette G. Desler, vice president of the Chesapeake Education Association, championed Chambers in nominations for the Fitz Turner award. Desler is also a special education teacher at Thurgood Marshall and has been involved with the Homework program since its beginning.
Chambers was the only candidate on Desler's mind for the award.
``Very simply, she cares,'' Desler said. ``Children know they can go to her to learn, or if they have a problem. She cares about them and they know it.''
Retired schoolteacher John B. Dean's 9-year-old stepson is in the Homework Program.
``It has helped him grow in self-confidence in his subjects,'' Dean said.
Chambers is a good bridge between the school and parents - visiting the neighborhoods, counseling parents, listening, helping, Dean said.
``I don't think there's anything she wouldn't do to help those kids learn,'' he said.
Lawrence E. Chambers Jr., Avelyn's 43-year-old husband, said, ``She has an aura about her, with her smile, that puts people at ease. And children? They just love her.''
The Chamberses have two children of their own - Audra, 18, and Lawrence III, 16. Even before she had her son and daughter, Chambers was accustomed to taking care of children.
``I used to baby-sit a lot for my uncle's children,'' she said, remembering her childhood in the Diggs Park area of Norfolk. ``I always had a yard full of children. Teaching was one way I could keep working with them.''
She enrolled at Norfolk State University and pursued a degree in special education. There she met her future husband, an accounting major and a member of the Army's Reserve Office.
Lawrence received a commission in the Army after graduating from college, and Avelyn spent her only years away from Virginia near Fort Hood, Texas.
When they returned to Virginia in 1979, Chambers began substitute teaching in Great Bridge, a job that developed into a permanent position at Park Elementary teaching disabled children.
In 1989, she earned her master's degree in special education from Old Dominion and became a guidance counselor.
Although she misses teaching, counseling allows her to reach more children, Chambers said.
``I can see problems other people would tell me about when I was in the classroom,'' she said. ``Counseling is my calling.''
In addition to her work with families during and after school hours, Chambers reaches further into the community through her church, where she heads a tutoring program.
Like Chambers' other efforts for children, the church program has grown. Former pupils have returned to help the congregation's educators. School friends of Chambers' daughter, a freshman at Norfolk State, volunteer from time to time.
Sparked by her commitment to keep young people on the right path, Chambers hopes to keep educating and helping Chesapeake families.
``We know what we want our children to learn, but there are a lot of things that will tempt them unless we provide other ways,'' she said. ``I don't mind being that provision. We have to be instrumental in how they get there.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MORT FRYMAN
Avelyn M. Chambers is a guidance counselor at Thurgood Marshall
Elementary School.
by CNB