Val Jackson is a unique and easily recognizable figure as he walks the hallways of Lucy Craft Laney Elementary School in north Minneapolis.  He’s a small, trim man with a quick smile and a delightful British accent, who wears a button-down shirt and colorful tie.  The tie is a holdover, he says, from his 33-year career as an electronics engineer in England.  It’s made an impression on several students he tutors.  In fact, he’s given several ties to boys who wanted to wear them.

Val has worked as a reading tutor with Experience Corps since its early days as a pilot project.  His daughter heard about the program and signed him up without asking.

He says, “I thought I’d go along with it for a year,” then he pauses, smiles and adds, “but then I got hooked.”

For the past couple of years, Val has worked in a classroom for students with behavioral and speech problems, sometimes working with a small group, sometimes tutoring one-on-one.  On his lunch break, he usually goes to the media center to shelve books while the media-specialist conducts class. 

Val recalls the day a teacher asked him to help resolve a disturbance among a few small boys while she kept the rest of the class on task.  He eyed the group and decided to take aside the angriest little boy first.  They sat down in the corner and Val hooked his arm around the back of the chair and said, “Marcus, you seem to be very upset today.  Can you tell me what the problem is?”

Marcus said, “Those other boys are teasing me, and….” 

“And what?” Val asked. 

Marcus’ face started to scrunch up, “And, they don’t know my grandma died this week.”  He burst into tears.

Well, Val could easily see that Marcus’ grief was more important than anything else at that moment, and that he was the caring adult who had the time to help.  So, Val took Marcus by the hand and implemented the “walk and talk” therapy he’d often used with other troubled students.  They walked around the school, inside and out, talking all the while.  They talked about Marcus’ grandma, all the good memories he had, all the ways he can remember his grandma in the future. 

Finally Val asked, “Do you think you’re ready to go back to class now?”