Student Tutor Exemplifies Best of Bethel in Frogtown

Issue 16 | Spring 2009

When 26 Bethel students go into the Frogtown community of St. Paul to tutor at after-school programs, they represent the love of Christ to struggling families in the community. Bethel junior social work major Stephen Horn has exemplified the best of Bethel, standing out to Bethel Frogtown/Summit-U Community Partnership Program Coordinator Verona Mitchell-Agbemadi for his leadership and commitment to the area’s children.

Horn is the tutoring site leader at Central Baptist Church, organizing gym games and helping students do their homework and complete their devotions. He also assists his sister-in-law Shawna Horn, coordinator of the youth program at Central Baptist, by interacting with parents and helping set up each session.

If there is one word that characterizes Horn’s service as a tutor, it’s “consistency.” In fact, he can’t say it enough himself. “Consistency, consistency, consistency,” says Horn, who has been a tutor since spring 2008, but has continued his involvement beyond the school year, mentoring during the summers since 2006. “Because of all the change that is going on in these kids’ lives, knowing the tutors are going to be there is a constant in their life,” he says.

For Horn, his role as a tutor and mentor is as rewarding to him as it is to the students in the program: “These kids have driven my ambitions toward helping people in underprivileged neighborhoods, and my interest in the economic gap between the poor and the middle class.”

“Stephen's reach and concern for issues in the urban population shows that he is courageous as well as ordained by god,” says Mitchell-Agbemadi. “Some families are homeless, some are dealing with alcohol and drug abuse in the home, some are struggling with domestic violence. Stephen is the stable mentor who stands firm in the lives of the kids.”

“We know that students' home lives can be extremely tough, and sometimes traumatic,” says Horn. “Instead of focusing in on their home situtations, we want to focus on the student... by showing them unconditional love, patience, setting up good boundaries, and being a friend. They see many people come and go in their lives, and by being committed and showing up, you are telling the kids nonverbally that they are important to you.”