Saying she is trying to meet a big need, Denise Boudjou has launched the Association Agoua Éduc, a non-profit organization that aims to help children who are struggling in school.
The association, which will be launched March 15 at 11:30 a.m. at the Cornwall Public Library, will offer free of charge help to students from grades 1 to 8 in offering them support matching their personal, educational and social needs.
“Many children are experiencing difficulties at school,” says the resource teacher who is seeking community support to get the program off the ground.
“I am sending out an appeal for a place where we can have a classroom,” says Boudjou, who teaches at École élémentaire catholique Marie Tanguay.
“This launch represents a crucial step in raising public awareness and mobilizing stakeholders in favour of education,” she states.
While the organization is bilingual, the emphasis will be on assisting francophone children. She has identified a particular group who would benefit from the initiative. “We see many children, whose mother tongue is English, attending French-language schools. The problem is that if their parents are both unilingual anglophones, these children can not get help at home.”
A team of four teachers will be offering in-person and online assistance outside school hours.
“I want to give to the community,” says Boudjou, who made a career change during the COVID-19 pandemic. The agricultural engineer decided to get her teaching degree from the University of Ottawa when she concluded she could make a contribution to education.
She was in fact continuing her family tradition. In her native Ivory Coast, her father was a school principal and her four brothers are teachers. Boudjou has named her association after her aunt.
She can be contacted at 613-889-7990 or info@agouaeduc.org
