God Uses UC Students To Work In After School Program

By: Anthony Jolly


Every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon during the school year, you can find University of the Cumberlands students at Main Street Baptist Church working with elementary students from Williamsburg Elementary through the Hive program.

Hive is a two-hour after school program offered to the elementary students. In the first hour, they participate in an academic tutoring program that focuses on basic school subjects such as math, science, etc. During the second hour, the student go to classes that are a little more fun, doing things such as playing with computers, problem solving, or going to Main Street Baptist Church for a Bible story and craft.

Several students from UC have worked as volunteers with the Hive program. “I was connected to Hive through my field experience class in the Religion department. Even though it started as a class, it became so much more to me,” Sarah Hammond said, a recent graduate of UC.

While the kids are at Main Street, they are led by a couple of student volunteers in a Bible story. One student likes to use her creative skills when teaching the students. “One of my most recent lessons was the story of when Jesus feeds the multitude with only two fish and five loaves. For this lesson, I set up a picnic inside the church and we ate gold fish crackers as part of the lesson’s illustration,” sophomore Laura Silvers said.

Each week the children are introduced to a new story of Jesus. There is no schedule for the lessons, the student volunteers have the freedom to teach whatever they want. “When I was working with Hive, I borrowed a children’s curriculum from my church that we followed each week,” sophomore Tommie Thompson said.

Obviously, you cannot make a Bible story last for an entire hour, so the student volunteers have to find other things to occupy the time. During this time, they also guide the students in doing crafts that correlate with the day’s lesson. Sometimes, if time permits, they will play a game to work out some of the kid’s energy.

The focus is not on the games and crafts, but simply being a Christian influence in the lives of the children and showing them the love of God. “They can be little terrors sometimes, but I love them. We have a great opportunity. Our goal is to really just show them God’s love through us,” Silvers said. There is always room for more student volunteers. For more information about helping with Hive, you can contact Mr. Brance Steely at Williamsburg Independent Schools.