As our Instructional Production team begins to position ourselves for growth, we are piloting some new opportunities for increased involvement with our volunteers.  One of these new pilots includes our Project Guidelines Pilot, known also as “Team Project Site”.

Staff has been working to create our structure and processes to include:

• Step by step procedures for creating project guidelines.

• Creating a library of Project Guideline templates; organized by publisher.

• Training and working closely with volunteers on the creation of our project guidelines.

• New structure to our current Project Guidelines.  

Thank you to Team Project Site member Susan Wilson, who has been the first brave soul to start this pilot and has been doing great!  With Susan’s help, we have already added over twenty new projects to our Upper Instructional Community.

We’d like to welcome new member Kathy Cummings to Team Project Site. She is currently working with Upper Instructional, but will soon be joining the Lower Instructional group.

Here are some great new features in our Project Guidelines to keep an eye out for:

If you are interested in joining our Project Guidelines please reach out to Audrey in your Staff Hangout.  Once again, thanks for all you do!!!

The Kump family travels in childhood were limited to infrequent summer vacations from Missouri to Colorado and weekend trips to his grandparents farm in rural Missouri. It wasn’t until Kump joined the U.S. Air Force in 1968 as a recently married college graduate that the travels really began. Included in the couples travels are multiple islands in the Philippines, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Yugoslavia, The Czech Republic, Hawaii, Mexico, Cayman Islands, Honduras and all but about 6 States in the United States.

“As much as I enjoy travel; on planes, autos, RVs, boats, or horseback,” says Kump, “what I really love doing is reading to others. Learning Ally has given me a wonderful outlet for that gift and it has allowed me to help others learn in the process - what could be better than that?!”

Kump has used his reading and speaking interest in a variety of other ways over the years. He was an official spokesman for the U.S. Government in a series of overseas postings, during such international events as President Reagan’s visit to Berlin, Germany (see the side-by-side photos of Kump and his wife, Shirley taken at the same spot in Berlin 20 years apart; the first in 1985, in uniform as an Air Force Lt. Col. and the second as a tourist in 2006). Later, Kump served as a news media liaison for two major aerospace corporations during the Space Shuttle program at Kennedy Space Center. He has also served as an emcee for a number of non-profit fund raising gala’s and community events as Chairman of the local Chamber of Commerce. 

That speaking continues to come in handy in his role as Pastor in a local, non-denominational church near the couples home on the Space Coast of Florida.

“I can remember during reading time in grade school raising my hand hoping to be called on to read aloud,” said Kump. “It was the first thing I can remember being able to do with any success.” His reading ability caused him to be recruited for the debate team in high school and in competitive speech contests, helping him earn a scholarship to a college.  Later, Kump would use his reading abilities on stage in Summer stock and in college theater productions. 

“Reading allows you to travel anywhere in your mind,” says Kump, “And I love being able to take people to far places when I read to them.” When he earned a Masters degree in Education, Kump recognized that in most systems, learning takes place by reading. But not everyone has the same ability or interest in reading. “That’s why Learning Ally is so important,” believes Kump.  “Anyone can play a role in that process too. As much as anything, donors are needed to keep the service operating. Reading the comments from students who have been helped by Learning Ally makes it so rewarding.”