Susan Tyrrell has been retired from teaching elementary school for 14 years. She taught elementary school for 33 years in schools from West Aurora to Oregon, Illinois.

Tyrrell’s teacher voice still is loud and clear when she’s working with fifth grade students at Teen Turf in Amboy.

“If they have missing school work, we encourage them to do it and hand it in the next day. If they come in the next day and it’s not done, their free time is pulled because we are going to get that work done,” Tyrrell said.

The students she and fellow volunteer Barb Harrison help with homework quickly learn that, after 33 years of teaching elementary school, Mrs. Tyrrell has heard every excuse before.

“They’ll tell Barb and me, ‘I didn’t bring it.’ Well, that’s your problem, you still don’t get free time. Bring it tomorrow. Or they’ll say, ‘I handed it in, and they didn’t grade it.’ If you turned it in, bring me a note from the teacher saying you turned it in, and they do that. That is teaching them responsibility, and I think that is very important,” Tyrrell said.

Tyrrell has volunteered at Teen Turf since 2019. For her, volunteering at the local youth organization is a way to continue the desire to make a difference for children that inspired her to become a teacher.

“My No. 1 thing is helping kids. I loved teaching. When I got out of high school and college, I wanted to teach because I wanted to make an impact on kids,” Tyrrell said.

She uses the same approach that she used when teaching elementary school, first in West Aurora, then in Oregon.

“When I talk to them, I say, ‘Look, I’ve been through fifth grade, I’m here to help you. If you don’t want to work with me, that’s OK, but what’s the consequence?’ They’ll say, ‘Well, I’ll miss free time.’ You want to do that? ‘No.’ Well, get your work done, how’s that for you?” Tyrrell said.

The Teen Turf after-school program serves students in elementary and junior high school. Students attend the program from 3 to 5 p.m. The program includes a meal, a schoolwork period for each grade, and then free time.

Tyrrell moved to Amboy after retiring from teaching to be closer to her daughter and grandchildren, who lived here. Her grandchildren, all now grown, attended Teen Turf, so Tyrrell stopped by to check out the program and was talked into volunteering by director Eileen Piper.

“My grandkids were involved in it, and I came here to see what it was all about. They put me with the junior high kids, and junior high kids are a different breed. I did that for a year,” Tyrrell said.

Tyrrell volunteered at schools in Mendota as a teacher’s assistant for another year before deciding to return to Teen Turf.

“I did miss working with the kids here, so that’s why I came back. Teaching was a calling for me that never left me,” she said.

Tyrrell sees the volunteer work she and the other Teen Turf volunteers do, helping students keep up and getting others caught up with their homework and with their peers academically, as vital for their success in school.

“By the end of fifth grade, you can tell what kind of a learner they will be for the rest of their school career. If you don’t get them by fifth grade, it’s going to be a struggle the whole time because it all changes as far as the way school is structured. Those kids who haven’t gotten it yet, we are trying to get them to get it because we don’t want them to be in that bottom 5%,” she said.

Tyrrell said she enjoys Teen Turf because she is among people who care as much as she does about the children they serve.

“The kids absolutely love you. They don’t always like me, and they are not good at communicating sometimes, but they really care about the people who are here, the volunteers. That is because our volunteers show these kids that they care about them,” she said.

Tyrrell, who enjoys traveling the country, gardening and being outside when she’s not volunteering, said she always knew that volunteering was in the cards after she retired.

She volunteers four days a week during the school year, and also helps chaperone the weekly dances Teen Turf sponsors.

“I think that you need to have something to do or you become stagnant when you retire,” she said.

Where the next group of Teen Turf volunteers will come from – and if there will be volunteers – is something that worries Tyrrell.

“We are mostly retired. I’m 72. I would love to see some younger people volunteer here. As the current volunteers leave, that is a big risk for the program here. Many of our volunteers will be here until they drop, but I worry that we need to get new generations of volunteers. This won’t survive without volunteers; it can’t,” Tyrrell said.

While the community is aware of the programs and events Teen Turf offers, Tyrrell wants to show prospective volunteers how they can help.

“I would love to offer a little class on what goes on here, what you can do as a volunteer, for parents whose kids are in school and early empty nesters, just to let them know all the different things we do. You don’t have to work every day. You can work one day or two days. We have people who come in and chaperone the dances because they can’t be here during the day. There’s something for everyone,” she said.

Then the teacher in her, complete with the teacher voice, takes back over as she considers that new lesson for a new class.

“I think that needs to happen. I haven’t brought it up yet, but I think that needs to happen,” she said.