{"id":408844,"date":"2026-09-24T01:48:26","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T01:48:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/408844\/"},"modified":"2026-09-24T01:48:26","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T01:48:26","slug":"seniors-in-service-seeks-50-classroom-grandparents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/408844\/","title":{"rendered":"Seniors in Service seeks 50 \u2018Classroom Grandparents\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>TAMPA \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/seniorsinservice.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Seniors in Service of Tampa Bay<\/a> is looking for 50 adults, age 55 and older, to volunteer in classrooms and help mentor elementary school students.<\/p>\n<p>The organization\u2019s Classroom Grandparents program serves dozens of Title I schools in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties. Volunteers provide students with one-on-one support while helping teachers with everything from small-group learning to everyday classroom activities.<\/p>\n<p>At Town \u2018N Country Elementary School, volunteer Denise Bryant is known simply as \u201cGrandma.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt home, I\u2019m known as Gigi, but here I\u2019m known as Grandma,\u201d Bryant said.<\/p>\n<p>Bryant began volunteering with Seniors in Service after retiring in 2020. Although her career was not in education, she said the organization provided the training she needed to work with students.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLunch time, circle time, individual time, learning with the children, they do what they call a Smart Board, so I\u2019m kind of all over the classroom,\u201d Bryant said.<\/p>\n<p>She is now going into her fifth year as a Classroom Grandparent in Head Start teacher Yahaira Avila\u2019s classroom.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHaving her is a blessing. We love her,\u201d Avila said. \u201cEven when we have to rotate and we do small groups for those students that are a little bit below, she will take them little by little. She will work with the skills that they really need to master, and it\u2019s been great.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Seniors in Service says that added support can make a difference. At B.T. Washington Elementary School, where nine Classroom Grandparents volunteer, the school improved from a \u201cD\u201d to a \u201cB\u201d grade last school year \u2014 the largest elementary school improvement in Hillsborough County.<\/p>\n<p>Bryant said the role goes beyond helping students academically.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHelping them feel confident, helping them feel loved, helping them to feel valued, helping them to know that they can do this,\u201d Bryant said. \u201cWe\u2019re helping the children to learn and grow so that they can succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For Bryant, it\u2019s about making sure every child has someone in their corner.<\/p>\n<p>Those interested in becoming a Classroom Grandparent must be at least 55 years old. There is an <a href=\"https:\/\/seniorsinservice.org\/volunteer\/classroom-grandparent\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">application process<\/a>, and Seniors in Service provides training for volunteers who are selected<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA \u2014 Seniors in Service of Tampa Bay is looking for 50 adults, age 55 and older, to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":408845,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[4996,113,5711,276,115,596,135,137,136,835],"class_list":["post-408844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-app-education","tag-education","tag-fallon-silcox","tag-hillsborough-county","tag-news","tag-pinellas-county","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=408844"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408844\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/408845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=408844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=408844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=408844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}