Education coordinator for Office on Youth has passion for working with kids

Joshua Mutters has a passion for helping children work through their tough times.

“I feel like there’s a great need for people to work with children on improving on their deficiencies. For a lot of children, we’re the only help they can get,” said Mutters, the educational support coordinator for the Central Shenandoah Valley Office on Youth.

Mutters oversees two Office on Youth programs. The Pathway program provides high school students who have been suspended for 10 or more days or who have been expelled from school the opportunity to work in a classroom and be positively engaged during a portion of regular school hours.

“Pathway is a good way for students facing these situations to not fall behind,” Mutters said. “When a student is suspended or expelled and thus out of school for a long period of time, they can easily fall behind, and it can be hard for them to catch up. We bridge that gap. We’re here to make sure that they can focus on completing their schoolwork so that they can stay on path.”

The One Child at a Time program is a free tutoring service offered to students in grades 9-12. Tutoring is offered in the evenings Monday-Thursday with volunteers matched up with students in need of tutoring help.

The OCAT program is currently searching for additional volunteer tutor help, Mutters said, to be able to accommodate the demand from the local school systems for tutoring services.

Mutters is finishing up his first month on the staff at the Office on Youth.

“Everyone at the Office on Youth really works together,” he said. “It’s a great team atmosphere. There are many different programs, but it’s one, cohesive unit.”

– Story by Chris Graham