A few months ago, I was asked to write down my literacy story, that is, how I had come to Project Read and why literacy is so important to me. I am so incredibly grateful for all that the gift of reading has given me. Without it, I would not be where I am today. Below, I have shared that story.
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I can read. You, too, can read, or you would not be sitting down at your computer reading this blog post. Because I can read, I have had opportunities in my life that, until recently, I have entirely taken for granted. You, too, I assume, have had opportunities because of your ability to read.
The ability to read is a gift. I was freely given the gift of literacy. But so many people across the state, across the country, and across the world are not freely handed this gift. My hope is that as you read this story, you will see how giving the gift of literacy impacts not only those who recieve the gift, but the giver themselves. Through personal experiences sharing literacy over the past few years, the direction of my life has changed. My ability to read impacts my life on a daily basis, and in sharing that ability with others, my life truly has been changed.
Some of my first memories are of my mother and I curled up in her bed, reading picture books like If You Give a Mouse a Cookie (Laura Numeroff), Word Bird (Linda Hohag), and Dr. Seuss’s The Cat in the Hat. The first book I learned how to read all on my own was Baby Bop’s Where Are My Shoes? (Mary Ann Dudko/Margie Larsen). I remember the moment when I looked at the page and read the book to my mom instead of her having to read it to me. From that moment forward, I craved that joy that comes from making meaning out of the letters on the page. That joy inspired a voracious love of reading that caused me to run home after school and plop down on the couch for hours reading, only to be torn away from a book when it was time for dinner and time for homework. This voracious pattern of reading continued until I arrived at Brigham Young University (BYU) in 2011.
From my voracious love of reading as a youth had sprung a love of writing as well, particularly discovering information about the people and the events around me. When I came to BYU, I was determined to become an award-winning journalist. I started studying Broadcast Journalism, until my plans were changed because of an experience that I had volunteering in an ESL (English as a Second Language classroom) classroom at Provo High School.
On a whim, I had volunteered to go to Provo High School every Thursday morning to volunteer with ESL students. I really didn’t even know what ESL was, but when I met the students who were giving so much effort to learn English to succeed in school, I was intrigued. One day, I was helping one of the students fill out an information sheet prior to taking a Utah state achievement test. The student was confused by some of the questions that were being asked and was getting frustrated. Then, in a moment that I will never forget, she looked up at me and asked, “If I can’t read the directions, how am I going to read the questions on the test?” In that moment, I realized that I had been blessed never to have to worry about not being able to read the test directions, let alone the questions. This interaction sparked a desire to help all of the students that had not been freely given the gift of English, so I went back to campus and declared a minor in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages). I also soon realized that journalism was not what I was truly passionate about, and so I chose a major that better fit my desire to teach English as a Second language: Sociology.
During my sophomore year at BYU, I took as many opportunities as I could to gain experience, volunteering at Wasatch Elementary School as a reading tutor and Selnate International School as an ESL tutor. I also began serving as a Program Director for BYU Y-Serve’s Family Literacy, a volunteer program that helps match tutors with Orem Literacy Center, Project Read, and Selnate International School. I have been serving as a Program Director ever since, and love helping fellow BYU students have experiences reading with others. After all, it was one of these experiences that helped change the direction of my life.
I served as a full-time missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from May 2013 to November 2014 in Tacoma Washington. On my mission, I met all sorts of people. And yet again, my inner desire to share the gift of literacy was pricked. About six months into my eighteen month service, I found myself in the middle of the farmlands of rural Western Washington. Being in this place was a completely different experience for me, as I had grown up in an Ohio suburb. During my time there, I met a couple that I got very close with, Tom and Nancy Burley. One day, my missionary companion and I were riding with Nancy to an appointment when she made an off-hand comment that Tom always listened to the scriptures, as he had never learned how to read. We asked her more about it, and she said that Tom had dyslexia, and had been ridiculed in school, so he had dropped out. She proudly told us that now, at the age of 65, Tom was making the effort to learn how to read, starting off with the newspaper that he looked at the pictures every morning, but never actually read. This experience may seem insignificant amongst the thousands of people that I met in Washington, but it reminded me of my desire to change lives through literacy, and assured me that I was on the right path.
I returned to BYU in Winter 2015, and hopped on the fast-track to finish my undergraduate degree. In order to graduate with my International TESOL Certificate, I needed to complete an internship. I knew of Project Read through Family Literacy, and decided to start volunteering. I started volunteering with Project Read in April 2015, tutoring an incredible women who’s life has changed my own. Lucia (name has been changed) is originally from Peru, and is continually trying to improve her English. She is a single-mom raising three children and working two jobs, the first of which starts at 4 a.m. every weekday. Her commitment to meeting together despite everything else going on in her life has again, helped me to see the incredible blessing that reading has been in my life, and should not be something that I take for granted.
I began my internship with Project Read this September 2015, primarily assisting teaching in the evening literacy lab. I have loved my experiences with the incredible students who make great sacrifices of their time and energy to come and learn. From them, I learn that reading means opportunity. From them, I learn that it is never too late to improve oneself. With them, I have discovered my true passion to change lives through literacy, as my life is continually changed by them.
As my undergraduate graduation approaches in April, I I learned about Teach for America, a non-profit organization that sends non-education majors to inner city schools for two years to teach underprivileged students. Again, on a whim, I applied, and by May, had been offered a position with Teach for America. This October, I signed an offer to teach elementary school in Phoenix, AZ starting in May 2016 and complete a Master’s in Elementary Education at Arizona State University. In an essay for my Teach for America application, I wrote the following,
“I can read. Because I can read, I have been able to accomplish. The gift of
literacy and education has been the catalyst for success in my life, and has led to all of
the activities and accomplishment that you see on my resume. My education was handed to me. It was not something that I had to fight for. But, unlike myself, thousands of children across The United States are not just handed literary skills or an education. They are something that they have to fight for. This is why I want to be a part of the Teach for America movement.”
As I have realized that literacy is a gift, a gift that has been freely handed to me, I have realized that reading means possibility. I owe my own mother, my ESL students at Provo High School, Tom Burley, and the students at Project Read a big thank you for inspiring a career in teaching and promoting literacy. I do not know all that the future holds for me, but I do know that my life will continue to be blessed with opportunity because I can read. I also know that because of my experiences sharing the gift of literacy with others, my own life has been changed, and I have discovered a passion that shapes my goals and future plans: to give the gift of literacy.
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| To learn more about Project Read Utah and how you can help, visit http://www.projectreadutah.org/ |
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