For senior Allie Glickman, saying goodbye to friends and family as she leaved for American University will be sad, yet expected. An equally tear-filled goodbye Glickman did not expect to give will be to Beth*, a nine-year-old girl with Down Syndrome.

A volunteer in the Gateways program, a Jewish Sunday School for children with disabilities, Glickman has acted as an aid for Beth for two years. While she began assisting Beth just on Sunday mornings, she has now established an intimate relationship with the entire family, and has even attended family events like Beth’s sister’s Bat Mitzvah.

Glickman and approximately 20 other South students, along with other students from the area, volunteer their Sunday mornings to individually aid one of the 48 students enrolled in Gateways or float among the classrooms, helping where they can. Available to students of Prozdor, the Hebrew high school in Newton Center, or any Jewish teens who wish to apply, Gateways offers teenage volunteers the opportunity to work one-on-one with children and teens who cannot succeed in a typical Hebrew school classroom.

Program Coordinator Nancy Mager is very grateful and pleased with all of the volunteers. “We could not run the program without the teen volunteers. Many of our students wouldn’t be successful without that one to one support; it is really crucial.”

Volunteers’ motivation and inspiration to help differ. “Some are here for a career, for others it is just a way of giving back, and for others it is just an opportunity,” Mager said.

Volunteers agree that the program has taught them valuable lessons and that they have grown to love and completely accept the students with whom they work.

“It’s a great feeling to see the children improve. [Even as a floater] I still feel connections to the kids. If I had a[n assigned] child I’d feel even more connected,” junior Sam Kropp said.

Junior Sarah Miller had been a floater like Kropp until she was paired with a new student about a month ago. Coming in late to the program, Miller’s student was especially shy.

However, Gateways gave Miller the opportunity to work on remedying the student’s shyness. “She was able to open up to me,” Miller said. “We were able to help her open up to the class as well.” Though it has only been a month, Miller already feels a strong connection forming between the pair.

Miller agrees that connections made as a floater were strong. “[It] has been a great experience being able to help and watch the kids grow and know you are helping them with their every-day lives.”

Senior Sam Forman has enjoyed watching his student grow. “[It is] really impressive to see where your kid has made it, the journey, the improvement of the kid over the year.”

Forman has gotten to know his student quite well. “I understand when he needs a break or when we can push through class, when it’s a good day or a bad day,” he said.

Glickman is constantly awed and impressed by her student, who has high functioning Dpwn Syndrome.

“I don’t know how to verbalize it; I just feel so fulfilled. I’m watching this girl who has so many more problems and struggles in life than I will have even on my worst day,” she said. “Being a part of her life and knowing I make a difference to her is the greatest feeling. It has shown me that just because some of these people have these disabilities it doesn’t make them ‘weird.’”

Senior Stephi Dworkin has learned a similar moral through her volunteer work. “It is important you don’t go in with prejudgements, see the child for who they are not for what you think a typical autis[tic] kid [is.] A disability just makes life harder. [It does not] define them.”

Dworkin finds helping these students to be extremely personally rewarding. “Their face lights up when they see you and it makes you feel awesome about yourself [to see them running] towards you excited.”

The students of Gateways also help teach the volunteers a great deal about themselves.

“I’ve learned a lot more about working with these kids, how much effort it take and how strong a person you need to be to deal with it,” Kropp said.

“[Once you work] with Gateways kids [and] you know how to deal with them, you can really deal with anything. [You are] prepared for whatever you may encounter,” Forman said.

Glickman believes that one of the most important lessons she has learned from Gateways is how wrong it is to use the word “retarded”.

“They are not retarded. They have their struggles; some can’t speak, some can’t walk, some take longer to process things. But they all have something to give. People shouldn’t be afraid to talk to them, because they are truly amazing.”

Most importantly, Glickman has made a lifelong friend. “I’ll continue to keep in touch with her and her family,” she said. “They have become a large part of my life and I love the whole family … I got really lucky. Some won’t see their students [after the program,] but I know I will.”