Chasadena Yakim, of Dowagiac, volunteers as a teacher’s assistant for Denise Beckman’s class at Northside Child Development Center in Niles.

Q: What do you do as a volunteer?

I volunteer every day. I work in my daughter’s half day kindergarten class, (Denise) Beckman’s class. My work is to help prepare different projects for the kids and to help the children one-on-one with different assignments.

Every Friday is Mrs. Yakim’s art project day, so every Friday I get to do an art and craft or an art project with the children. I just help her (Beckman) prepare for the day and go where I am needed to help the children out. In addition to that, if there is any help they need in the office, the ladies will come get me and I’ll help do that.

I take four of the children out of the classroom each day now for a program called Read Naturally, which helps students excel in their reading. I am usually at school from around 8:30 (a.m.) to noon.

Q: How did you get involved?

Just from visiting the classroom and seeing what was taking place there. I offered to volunteer just honestly to kill a little time. Once I started volunteering there I really enjoyed it.

I have had children in school for 14 years plus. and I can tell you probably less than five teachers in 14 years have made an impression on me to where they stood out.

Mrs. Beckman loves what she does, she loves those children and it comes across in how she teaches. When you see something positive going on. it is natural that you want to get involved in it. So I offered that I wanted to help her out in any way possible. I was very excited to see such a positive atmosphere going on for those kids.

The more I became involved, the more I got to interact with people throughout the building. It is just an excellent, excellent environment and I am just so blown away with the faculty and the heart and soul they put into these children. They absolutely love what they do and you can see it each and every day. It makes me so excited to be a part of that.

Q: Why is it important to volunteer?

The more positive people that we have involved in our community as a whole, whether it is in our school or somewhere else, is a great thing. You will have a more positive atmosphere overall. Whether it is just saying kind words to a perfect stranger or giving a child a hug to brighten their day — just showing kindness to one another is always a positive thing for everyone.

I am very impressed with the Northside School and am very impressed with the faculty. Mrs. Beckman corralled me in with her teaching abilities and from there I’ve just been blown out of the water by these folks. They are the ones who deserve to be recognized.