ST. ANN, Mo. _ The man in the leather motorcycle jacket is known as Mr. Woody around these parts, where conversations touch on dinosaurs, robots and upset stomachs.
As Mr. Woody walks through the halls of Drummond Elementary, he is nothing short of a celebrity.
"I love him," mouths the librarian as he walks by. Everyone here seems to.
As he has every Monday morning this school year, Mr. Woody, formally Dale Woodard, headed from the office to Ashley Burd's second-grade room where the boy with the mop top of red hair keeps close watch on the door.
"So what's new?" Mr. Woody asked Hunter Hayes, as the boy bounded into the hallway.
Hunter was sick the week before, out of school for a few days, but he is feeling better now, he said in a run-on sentence that left little room for breathing.
And it's Monday, he stressed.
Hunter is never absent on Mondays.
"I get to spend time with you," Hunter said, looking up at Mr. Woody, who can't help but beam. He shared the same sentiment about Hunter a few moments earlier.
The 80-year-old and the 8-year-old headed to the library, generations apart but locked in easy conversation. They settled into their usual spot, a round table in the corner underneath a colorful banner of a dragon reading a book. The message was clear: If it's cool enough for the school's mascot to crack open a book, then it's certainly cool enough for anyone in the room to do the same.
The relationship between Mr. Woody and Hunter is officially one of tutor and student, and there are 10 other similar pairings at Drummond, part of Pattonville School District. But the relationships between the young and not-so-young often morph into more.
"In addition to working with them on academic things, they also are mentors, friends and sometimes the only older adult they spend time with," said Jeanne Foster, national tutoring manager for The OASIS Institute, a St. Louis-based nonprofit providing various educational and volunteer activities for those ages 50 and up.
The organization has about 5,000 tutors in 73 school districts across the country, including Pattonville and 22 others in the St. Louis region.
OASIS wants to grow its number of tutors by 10 percent over the next year or so. It's one of about 50 agencies across the country that have joined forces with Encore.org, a nonprofit that recently launched a campaign to get 1 million older adults formally active in working with young people over the next five years.
The premise is simple. People are living longer and find themselves looking for ways to be productive after retirement. Schools welcome help to give children one-on-one attention that is hard to offer in the classroom. According to the Census Bureau, more than 20 percent of the U.S. population will be 65 or older by 2030. The bureau estimates about 14 percent of the country is comprised of that age group today.
'THE LITTLE THINGS'
On warmer days, Mr. Woody pulls up to Drummond on his Harley. He took up motorcycle riding when he was 60, and now is a certified instructor on how to ride safely. After 22 years in the Navy, he worked at what was then McDonnell Douglas before retiring in 1998.
He is now in his 11th year as a tutor, and has been with Hunter since the beginning of the school year.
During a recent session, Hunter read a book about the forest. There was an opossum, bald eagle and a fox among the animals. As Hunter and Mr. Woody talked about the forest and world within it, the world around them disappeared. Just two friends talking about whether to call baby foxes kits, cubs or pups.
Mr. Woody, a great-grandfather, said the key is finding out the interests of the child. One boy said he liked sports, especially basketball. So Mr. Woody went to the library, got a book on famous players and that broke the ice. Soon, the two were wadding up paper into balls and using a trash can as the basket.
"The kid came alive. All I asked him was what did he like. He just wanted someone to talk to him," Mr. Woody said. "It's the little things."
Hunter's teacher, Ashley Burd, said he was not getting his homework completed and was needing some attention beyond the classroom. As Hunter began working with Mr. Woody, she saw Hunter's classroom work improve, and Hunter looking forward to his tutor sessions.
Burd told Mr. Woody that if he did not get his homework turned in more often, his visits with Mr. Woody would be put on hold. The tactic seemed to work. And she owes much of that to Mr. Woody.
While a student might defy a parent or a teacher, "they don't want to disappoint Mr. Woody," Burd said.
'SUCH A HOOT'
Tracey Brandt, Hunter's mom, said she has not met Mr. Woody but feels like she knows him based on the stories she hears from her son.
"He loves Mr. Woody," Brandt said. "Hunter's father passed away a year and a half ago, and he had a hard time with school. With the one-on-one time, he gets the attention he needed. His reading has gotten better."
OASIS does an annual survey of school principals, teachers and tutors about the program. Last year, 92 percent of teachers said students who were tutored made academic strides, 90 percent said classroom participation improved and 71 percent reported higher attendance.
In the same survey, every tutor said he or she felt the program was a positive addition to their life.
"It's such a hoot," said Martha Murphy, 67, a tutor of two students at Remington School, also in the Pattonville district. "In this crazy world we live in these days, to have an hour and a half a week to hear what comes out of the mouth of an 8-year old, it adjusts your perspective on things."
When Mr. Woody started tutoring more than a decade ago, he didn't know what to expect. He used to take his granddaughter to the library and read with her and serve as a chaperone on her field trips. He figured another adult figure around school would be of some value.
"These kids want to learn so bad, but they need a little push. Some of the kids don't get help at home, sitting there alone after school with an older sibling while their parents are at work. A lot of it is self-esteem. They need to realize: 'Hey, I'm a kid, but I'm important.'"
After about 45 minutes, Mr. Woody walked Hunter back to the classroom. They talked about the paper plane Hunter learned how to fold, and how he hoped to learn to fly it better.
"Ain't he neat?" Mr. Woody said after sending Hunter off with a rub on the head. It's the small moments that mean so much to Mr. Woody, like when a student reaches for a hug to hold him over until the next week.
"It chokes an old man up when a little boy does that."
