Project Eye-to-Eye connects younger children who have learning differences with Delaware Valley Friends mentors.
Every Tuesday afternoon at 4 p.m., students from elementary schools in the Great Valley, West Chester and Tredyffryn/Easttown School Districts converge at DVFS in Paoli to spend time with DVFS students who share similar learning challenges.
Each of the young children is greeted by their DVFS mentor. They pair off to work on art projects, play board games, run around outside or in the gym, and just spend time together getting to know one another.
Their time together is important to both the younger children and their mentors. The elementary school students have the opportunity to meet and talk with older students who have come to terms with their learning disabilities or differences and are becoming successful students with the new skills and approaches they are learning at DVFS. The Delaware Valley Friends students have a chance to give back to the community and serve as understanding role models to the younger students – inspiration many of them may not have had in their younger years.
Founded in 1998 at Brown University, Project Eye-To-Eye is a national not-for-profit (link to national website: http://www.projecteyetoeye.org/home.html) mentoring program that provides "at-risk" students the feeling of empowerment and connection to a community that is built on understanding and compassion for differences. The program was initiated at Delaware Valley Friends School (DVFS) by Kyle Dempsey in his senior year at DVFS. DVFS was the first high school to become an Eye-to-Eye chapter.