The History of OAASIS
OAASIS was formed in 1991-92. Dr. Fran Tracy-Mumford developed the idea to create an organization in support of adult education that would involve adult students and alumni. Dr. Fran Tracy-Mumford and Dr. T.J. Mumford discussed the name of OAASIS and how to form it on a trip to West Virginia at Christmas. They came up with The Organization of Adult Alumni and Students in Service (OAASIS). The creation of OAASIS involved a number of people, including adult students, alumni, the Delaware Association for Adult and Community Education (DAACE), the Delaware Coalition for Literacy (DCL), and the Interagency Council on Adult Literacy (ICAL). As a result OAASIS was established as a subset of DAACE.
The need for a support system by students for students seemed tremendous. Therefore the purpose of OAASIS was, and still is, to give the students a voice in the adult education community by providing program support, outreach, alumni and student support, and development of leadership skills.
The very first advisor for OAASIS was T.J. Mumford. Several more have stepped up as advisors since then, including Tom Baker, Jim Burcham, and Joanne Heaphy. The OAASIS board consisted of six members during the first years: Nancy Shields, Rosemary Everton, William Gibbs, Latisha Gibbs, Keyla Disalvo, and Diane Smith.
In 1992 OAASIS Student Workers were assigned to the following James H. Groves sites: POLYTECH, Sussex Tech, Middletown, Newark, Marshallton, and Wilmington. The workers started out as volunteers, but after a few months they were able to be paid.
Now, twelve years later, OAASIS is involved in many more events and activities. We host a Legislative Dinner, a Student Conference, Christmas dinners, and silent auctions at the DAACE Conference to give an OAASIS Scholarship to a student from each Groves site at graduation. Each year we recruit for the Hall of Fame and Hall of Honor. OAASIS promotes “Pay It Forward,” Pennies for Literacy, and voter registration. Each year we offer teacher appreciation, and students receive 100-hour certificates.
A major role for OAASIS is participation in graduations, retention, recruitment, and dropout prevention. We act as a role model for students, providing tutoring, resources, and leadership training. We also offer support for teachers and administrators. There are many, many more things that OAASIS provides. Each site holds different events in addition to those mentioned above.
In the past three years we have taken a student trip to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and to Orlando, Florida. In 2003, Congressman Castle and Senators Biden and Carper were sent a videotape of the Legislative Dinner held in 2003. There are many adult learners that participated each year in the dinner.
We now have 16 different OAASIS Student Workers assigned to different Groves sites, Family Literacy sites, and ABE sites including the At-A-Distance programs. The OAASIS Board is currently being reconstructed. OAASIS continues to identify ways to serve the adult education community. Each year the need to serve the adult education community becomes more evident.
