Augustana’s Búhos Club has taught local community members English for around a decade. 

Through a partnership with the Palomares Social Justice Center, students provide free, weekly lessons to non-native speakers at the nonprofit’s headquarters in Rock Island, located at St. John’s Lutheran Church. 

The Palomares Center is located on the fringe of the Floreciente neighborhood, a local Latin American community. Junior Genevieve Ryan, vice president of Búhos, said many neighborhood residents utilize Búhos’ services. 

Ryan said most of the club’s participants are middle-aged parents, with community members ranging in age from early 20s to mid-50s. 

“We find that most of our students haven’t tried learning English before. Maybe, they’ve used an app or something,” Ryan said. “But, beyond introducing themselves and maybe being able to say their birthday and where they’re from, they don’t really have the capability to speak, read, write and understand English.”

In total, she said around 20 residents frequent the club, with each twice-weekly lesson teaching as many as ten students. Junior Cali Papez is president of the club and said at the beginning of each semester, Búhos welcomes new participants and gives each learner a language pre-test. 

The results of these tests vary from student to student, she said, with some more familiar with concepts such as numbers due to their jobs. Papez said the pre-test helps give Augustana tutors a better idea of what each learner needs in the one-on-one lessons. 

“The hope is that by instituting the pre-test, we’re making the service more consistent, and we can gather enough data to be able to get a grant,” Papez said. “[We are] showing that we’re making progress and that this is a good program so that we can then buy the students their own textbooks.”

Last spring, Papez said Búhos was able to purchase a new set of textbooks thanks to funding provided by Augustana’s Student Government Association. However, she said the funding only covered one set, including two course books and two practice books. 

With limited resources, Papez said tutors have to share and copy lesson plans since students are not able to take books home. And, before securing textbooks, she said students were responsible for creating their own lesson plans. 

Although Búhos Club was established in the mid-2010s, Ryan said the club was dismantled around 2020 due to COVID, losing much of its momentum and programming. 

“We’ve been working to restructure the club because there’s really no institutional memory,” Ryan said. 

Assistant Director of the Office of Student Inclusivity and Diversity and LGBTQ+ Coordinator Sam Wright is the executive director of the Palomares Center and said the club could use more funding to go towards additional resources, such as helping members prepare for citizenship tests.

“More funding could bring about more opportunities to train the Búhos volunteers in different areas like the citizenship class or a driving test, so we can help community members with multiple needs at once,” Wright said. 

In the past, Papez said the club was able to purchase resources, such as flashcards, to help local students prepare for citizenship exams. If they were able to secure additional funding, Papez said this would be one of their main priorities. 

Since the club’s revival, she said Augustana students have worked hard to create a more consistent curriculum and provide all members with a welcoming environment. Associate Professor of Spanish Ana Bodería-García serves as the club’s faculty advisor and said Búhos’ main priority is not just to build language skills but to provide members with a healthy environment to facilitate learning. 

“It provides immigrants in this area who are struggling with English an opportunity to improve in a very safe, comfortable atmosphere,” Bodería-García said. 

She said the club is beneficial to both Augustana tutors and local residents, forming cross-cultural relationships and immersing the students within the local community. Ryan agreed and said Búhos holds a special place in her heart because of these relationships. 

“We don’t have a lot of service organizations on campus, and a lot of service organizations that do exist don’t routinely serve. It’s more periodical,” Ryan said. “I think that’s something that’s really special about Búhos. We show up every week, multiple times per week, all year long.”