Puppet shows and migrant labor camps seem worlds apart. But the migrant center in Dixon will be the backdrop as farm workers' children present puppet shows to mark the end of a six-week program in which university students tutor and serve as role models for the children.

The Mini-Corps program at the University of California, Davis, enlists about 45 university and college students -- more than a third of them from UC Davis -- to serve about 450 children in three counties through its summer and school-year sessions each year.

 Available for interviews in English and Spanish will be:

• children
  
• Rosalinda Martinez, coordinator of UC Davis Mini-Corps
  
• Executive Director David Serena of the Yolo County Housing Authority, which oversees the Dixon migrant center
  
• the Mini-Corps puppeteers: Michelle Seijas, who graduated this spring from UC Davis with a bachelor's degree in Spanish and a minor in education; and Karina Vargas, a liberal studies major at California State University, Sacramento, who will be a senior in the fall

The UC Davis Mini-Corps program, now completing its sixth year, is a collaboration of the campus; California Mini-Corps, a state program that provides educational assistance to migrant children; and Migrant Education, a federal program that provides educational and health services.

The local program aims to provide academic assistance and role models and, by employing university students, to increase the number of bilingual teachers sensitive to the needs of migrant children.

This summer, the program is serving about 225 children from grade one through the high school years at 16 schools.

"We're here to help migrant children overcome some real disadvantages in their education," says Rosalinda Martinez, the coordinator of the UC Davis Mini-Corps program. "They can be hindered by language, frequent disruptions to their schooling and even the fact that their parents are often unable to help them with schoolwork."

Mini-Corps' university recruits work as teaching assistants, providing tutoring for migrant children attending local schools during the summer and from October through May. In the summer, they also visit labor camps to tutor there and offer special activities like the puppet shows.

University students who participate in the program are trained in tutoring skills, classroom management, strategies for improving literacy and academic standards. The training draws on the resources of the Early Academic Outreach Program, Cooperative Research and Extension Services for Schools and faculty members at UC Davis.

The Dixon migrant center is on Radio Station Road less than 15 minutes drive from the Pedrick Road exit of Interstate 80. The Pedrick Road exit is located about 3.5 miles west of the Highway 113 North exit off Interstate 80.

From Interstate 80, take the Pedrick Road exit and proceed south for about five miles. At Midway Road, turn left and after about two miles, turn right onto Robben Road. Proceed about one mile to Radio Station Road and turn left. The center is one-half mile down the road on the right. Head to the large administration building.