Honors student Lauren Sikes said she volunteers every week in order to give back and work with students in the community.

NIU honors students volunteer at the Conexion Comunidad, 637 11th St., from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

Conexion Comunidad is a community center that was started for the Hispanic community in DeKalb.

“Last year, as a freshman, I wanted to get involved on campus,” said Sikes, sophomore nursing major and Spanish minor. “I’m a Spanish minor so the name ‘Conexion Comunidad‘ interested me. Being able to work with kids speaking Spanish means a lot to me. I’m the ‘over-see-er.’ When volunteers come in, I check them in and set them up with the kids. I also tutor and organize car pools.”

Sikes is one of the many volunteers involved with the after-school program. She is in charge of the students when project coordinator Kate Braser isn’t there.

There are normally 10 to 20 kids each day, and sometimes as many volunteers.

“We recruit all volunteers from honors,” Braser said. “We help with homework, projects and studying.”

Supporting Opportunities for Latinos has also gotten involved with the program in the last year or so, Braser said.

Kids ranging from kindergarten to seventh grade come to the program. This year, however, it has been mostly fifth and sixth graders.

“Neighborhood kids living in walking distance are the most common,” she said. “They go to local schools like Little John, Huntley and Clint Rosette.”

The Honors Student Association has done school supply and snack drives to collect food and supplies for the program. Recently, Colette Wehrli, freshman accountancy major and volunteer, said she found donors for furniture and carpet for the library.

“I sent a mass e-mail to friends and family asking if anyone had extra couches or chairs,” Wehrli said. “Those who didn’t [have furniture to give] donated money, which went towards the carpet. We used some money to purchase the egg chairs from Target as well.”

The kids involved with the program were allowed to help decorate the library and help set it up.

“For years they have had a great collection of books, but it was crammed in the basement so they couldn’t really read them,” Braser said. “Now they’ll be able to spread out and enjoy.”

The after-school program has been going on for five years.

“Someone mentioned an after school tutoring program,” Wehrli said. “I was interested in getting away from the typical 18- to 21-year-old college student, and I get to go back to third grade again.”

Braser said she is a strong supporter of this program because a lot of these kids have never even thought about college before.

“It’s seeing college students who turn this more into a mentoring program,” she said. “Mentoring seems to mean more than tutoring some days.”