Students' Success Stories 2019-20

We all enjoy success stories. They are positive messages about overcoming obstacles, working hard for the reward, and finding satisfaction in completing challenges. Read about the students who have obtained citizenship, those who escaped war torn countries and now have assimilated into American society and absorbed our culture, and those who finally read a bedtime story to a young child or grandchild. That last achievement has a special significance for a Basic Literacy student after a lifetime of frustration and low self-esteem. Here at Literacy Volunteers of America we like to celebrate all those positive events in our students’ lives. Sometimes we celebrate with hugs and treats, but most often, we share these achievements with others through this page on our website. That way all of our LVA community can share in the celebration of their success!

---

Paula
​by Russell Ben Ali

It’s hard to say how Paula caught the travel bug but, for her infectious passion for the road, there’s appears no cure.
 
And that’s fine with her. Paula, an ESOL student from Manizales, Colombia, comes from a family that extols the value of travel to discover different peoples, cultures, and languages. Or just for fun.
 
“My grandmother loved to travel,” Paula said. “She said you need to travel to know the world, so she saved her money and traveled. My grandma was 75 when she traveled to Disney and rode all of the roller coasters.”
 
As for Paula, she’s had the chance to admire the architecture of San Francisco and wander historic Boston streets. She’s been thrilled by the lights of New York’s Times Square, and vexed by Los Angeles traffic.
 
She’s visited Disney parks in Florida, the Grand Canyon, Yosemite National Park, and U.S. cities like Washington, D.C., Miami, Las Vegas, and Albuquerque. Paula, who works as an au pair for a family with two children, travels both with her employers and by herself.
 
Travel has presented Paula, who is not shy about speaking English with strangers, a unique opportunity to practice newly acquired language skills. But everything changed with the spread of the novel coronavirus, the quarantine, the travel restrictions.
 
“Before COVID, I went to New York City almost every weekend,” said Paula. “I loved to walk around the city. Going to Times Square was like a shot of energy.”
 
Now her employers and their children work and study from home, while Paula and her tutor switched to distance learning. But the change hasn’t slowed Paula’s desire.
 
“She’s very enthusiastic, very good about doing her work,” said Mary O’Connor, Paula’s tutor and LVA’s tutor support specialist. “I really couldn’t ask for a better student.”
 
The two meet each week through FaceTime, a video chat application developed by Apple, and they work on grammar and syntax, reading, online testing, conversation skills, and essay writing. “Her answers are almost always on target,” said Mary. “She’s doing high intermediate, or advanced work online, and she is just knocking it out.”
 
The two apparently make a good match. “I love working with Mary,” Paula said. “She tries to improve all of my skills. She knows my vocabulary is not always the best. She knows what works for me.”
 
In Colombia, Paula earned a degree in project management and worked in quality control for a plant that produced milk for school children.
 
She came to the U.S. to study English and, before working with her tutor, attended ESOL classes at the Hilton Branch of the Maplewood Memorial Library in a joint program coordinated by the library and LVA. She said she hopes to continue her English studies, as well as learn Mandarin, and eventually earn a master’s degree in business administration at a U.S. or European university.
 
“I am going to follow the path the life shows for me,” Paula said. “I am open for all opportunities.”

---

Petergaye
by Debbie Graham

The best opportunity is often that elusive second chance, especially if you weren’t ready for the first. Through his volunteer tutors, Peter, a literacy student from Jamaica, has found one, and he’s ready for a redo.
 
“If I had only taken school seriously,” said Peter, as he reflected on his early education in the Caribbean. “I had the opportunity to go to school, but I was too young and didn’t take it seriously. I want to try it over this time and get it right,” he said.
 
And, that he has done. “When I started with my tutor, I didn’t know the sounds of letters. Now I know the sounds and am able to put the letters together to make words,” Peter said. 
 
Peter first walked through the doors of the Bloomfield Library straight to the LVA office after hearing about the program from his mother. “When I came in to register, I was really excited about the opportunity to better myself,” Peter said. “I wanted to improve my life. I wanted to help my daughter. I wanted to get a better job.”
 
Peter works with his tutor, Michele, every Saturday and has continued tutoring sessions with the same enthusiasm since distance learning began in March. “She gives me lessons on the phone and I also work on my own,” Peter said. I find it different than when we are together in the library. I have two other guys with me in our group and we provide back up for each other. It is different than when I am alone,” he said. “But, I continue to study because I want to learn more.”
 
Michele, his tutor, can easily support Peter’s self-assessment. “Peter is excellent and is trying very hard. He is learning quickly,” she said.
 
When Peter is not studying or reading with his daughter, he enjoys listening in on her FaceTime lessons with her teacher. Pre-COVID-19, Peter and his daughter enjoyed movie dates and playtime at the park. And he enjoys reading children’s books with her. “Now, we play at home and I try my best to keep her happy,” he said.
 
In his down time, this devoted dad kicks back into the roots of his Jamaican culture.
It is not unusual for Peter to be in his kitchen singing along to “One Love,” his favorite Bob Marley song, and cooking up a dish of rice and peas, jerk chicken, or peas with oxtails. Peter’s mom worked so he had to learn to cook for himself.
 
Peter’s current enthusiasm toward learning to read coincides with his 14-year-old self who taught himself to cook for his own survival. Yet, this time he doesn’t have to go it alone. “I am so happy to have found LVA. It is helping me a lot,” Peter said.

---

Rajpattie
by Janet Donohue

Everyone who meets Rajpattie (nickname Nado) has a similar reaction: “Her eyes sparkle. You see pure love in them!”
 
That includes love for her family, for her native Guyana, and for learning. “She loves to learn,” agree tutors Jackie Williams and Karen Kirk. “She is always on time and prepared for her lessons.”
 
Nado is a Basic Literacy student whose first language is English. One of 11 children who because of family circumstances were unable to attend school, she began working in housekeeping when she was 13.  She had already learned cooking, cleaning and clothes-washing from caring along with her sister Vedo for their younger siblings.
 
At 15, Nado married Satrohan, now her husband of 33 years, after seeing him once. “I left my family in the country and moved to his house in Georgetown. That’s the tradition.” At first, “it was strange there,” she recalls of living in the Guyanan capital but she soon adjusted.
 
Her daughter, Nalini, was born two years later. Nado stayed home until her little girl started school, then returned to housekeeping work.
 
In 2013 Satrohan emigrated to the U.S. for a job in construction with his nephew. Nado and her daughter came for vacation in 2016, during which her now grown up little girl met up with a Guyanan friend whom she had not seen in 10 years. As Nado happily reports about their reunion, her soon to be son-in-law declared: “You are not going to go back. I am not going to lose you again.” The couple married in 2017 and Nado stayed in the U.S.
 
Nalini now lives with her own family in Queens, close enough for her parents to visit every weekend. That is unlike what Nado experienced when she married and moved 45 minutes away. “In Guyana, that is very, very far,” she explains. “So many years I lived there and my mom only came three times because she said I lived too far.”
 
It was Nalini who directed Nado to LVA at the Bloomfield Public Library. As Nado remembers, “Marisol (LVA student coordinator) gave me a form to fill out. I told her I couldn’t read and she said, ‘You can learn’.”
 
Nado began studying towards that goal in October 2019. “I am getting there very slowly but surely. I started with the sounds of words, memorizing words.” Early on she learned how to spell the names of her family.
 
Today, when Nado feels down, she calls her grandson. “In Guyana, if our grandma lived far away, we called her far-nanny. Here, I tell my daughter to teach her son to just call me “grandma.” That may be the most special of the many new words that her tutors have helped Nado to recognize, pronounce and spell.

---

Nohra
​by Janet Donohue

The desire to learn English and explore broader opportunities in the United States prompted Nohra Colon to emigrate from her native Colombia when she was 25.
 
To leave home was not an easy decision, however. Nohra had grown up and felt safe in Cali. She had been working since age 18 in a textile factory. But the shifts changed weekly and the likelihood of moving on to a better life seemed remote.
 
“I can’t do this anymore,” she told her mother. “I know there is no future for me in this country.”
 
Flying into Kennedy Airport was “both scary and exciting,” she recalls. Soon her new life began to take shape.
 
She found work in a factory and, through a friend from her job, a welcoming church. One of its congregants, a gentleman who had grown up in Puerto Rico, is now her husband of 36 years.
 
Nohra worked for a short time after their son was born. When the couple had a second child, they agreed that she would stay home with the children. The three especially enjoyed watching children’s TV shows together. “I watched Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood,” she recalls. “I loved Mr. Rogers! And so, did my son and daughter. He was easy to understand.”
 
Once her children neared the end of high school, Nohra was ready to rejoin the workforce. She worked briefly in a daycare center and then set her sights on becoming a home health aide. She studied for the licensing exam, took the test in English, passed it, and now works in the field.
 
As an LVA student for the past two years, Nohra has significantly improved her literacy skills. “I found out about the program one day when I came to the Bloomfield Public Library to check out a book to learn English,” she says. Volunteer tutors Karen Cardell and Ann Moore have helped her progress quickly through several levels. “It is a very good program with many good people,” she says.
 
Beginning with the decision to leave Colombia, Nohra has shown the perseverance needed to thrive. So, she could drive her children to school, she took the driver’s license test five times before she succeeded. She tried learning English online, but recognized the downside of limited speaking practice. At LVA, she benefits from the class interaction with other literacy students, as well as grammar and vocabulary lessons.
 
Nohra’s husband and children have always supported her literacy efforts. Those Sesame Street-watching companions are now grown -- her son is a computer engineer and her daughter, is considering enrolling in culinary school.

---

Chaivarit
​​by Janet Donohue

Motivated to help his family, Chaivarit (who prefers to be called Zeno) Zeno has always juggled jobs while fitting in some time for singing. For 17 years, he was assistant manager of a large Japanese credit card company headquartered in Bangkok. From an office in Thailand, he managed more than 1,000 people and several times was named Employee of the Year. On weekends Zeno worked in one of the three hair salons he owned. Evenings he often sang in a restaurant, “my favorite job,” he confesses.
 
After moving from Bangkok in February 2018 to join his husband, Danny, in New Jersey, Zeno took on another “job” – learning English.
 
Unsurprisingly, Zeno approaches learning English with the same dedication that earned him a managerial position with the credit card firm. As Meg Temkin, an LVA tutor who has worked with Zeno for the past year, says: “He works so hard outside of our time together and is so eager to improve his English.”
 
Five years ago, when Danny stopped Zeno in a Bangkok temple to ask for directions, Zeno knew very little English and Danny spoke no Thai. They exchanged email addresses and what started as an email friendship slowly turned into love. Besides the language barrier, communicating was not always easy. At first, Zeno had no internet access and had to go to an internet café to email. Eventually, he and Danny starting phoning and then moved to Facebook chats.
 
Danny traveled back to Thailand three times to see Zeno and to meet his family. One of those trips was for a large Buddhist ceremony in which the two were married. They had a second wedding in New Jersey, during which Zeno sang “I Don’t Like to Sleep Alone.”
 
Zeno began studying English in an intensive 10-week LVA satellite program at Berkeley College. He now has two LVA tutors on whom his positive personality has made a strong impression. “What a great guy,” says LVA tutor Christine Burns. “It is my pleasure to get to know him.”
 
The ninth of 12 children, Zeno didn’t go to college so he could stay home to help his family. That family now includes a 17-year-old daughter whose language skills – she speaks Thai, Japanese, Chinese, and English – he is particularly proud of. She lives with his mother and sister and keeps in touch through Facebook. “I work hard because I want to help my family, my mother, my daughter,” Zeno says. In Thailand he provided for a new home in the countryside and a Bangkok condo for his mother.
 
In addition to the tutors with whom he meets four hours a week, Zeno, who works full-time in a West Orange hair salon, watches YouTube videos in English and borrows children’s books from the library. “I like to read history and, for fun, books like Curious George and Cat in the Hat.”
 
“He has learned so much in his short time in New Jersey,” says Meg. “Additionally, Zeno is the greatest guy – always thinking of others with a kind word and remembering holidays and birthdays. It’s an honor to be a small part of Zeno’s journey.”

---

Freddy
by Russell Ben Ali

There was plenty Freddy hoped to do in life but two aims stood high above the others: He yearned to read and write better.
 
“I tried so many times,” Freddy said of his struggles to gain literacy as an adult after dropping out of high school as a teen. “But I would get mad and give up.” It didn’t help that those around him were not always encouraging.
 
“They would tell me it was too late. That I should give up and stop wasting my time,” he recalled.
 
Fortunately, he refused to listen.
 
Freddy enrolled in a GED program but struggled with the its literacy demands. So, he registered with LVA and soon found the encouragement and support he needed in veteran tutor Sherri Smith, with whom he studies for four hours each week. In Freddy, Sherri observed a student with a determination to learn and a will to work with other students.
 “He is a team player,” Sherri said.
 
Freddy and Sherri meet four hours each week. He also studies during lunchtime at work.
Freddy’s struggles with literacy began early.
 
As a child, his family moved from Newark to Arizona, then to Orange, New Jersey. He had trouble adjusting to schools in both states and found himself picked on by other kids, sometimes for his race and sometimes for his placement in special education classes.
 
He eventually left school altogether, in part to work and help his mother, a single mom. She cleaned houses for a living but went on to become an entrepreneur who, at one time or another, ran her own catering business, bridal shop, and thrift store.
 
Freddy found employment at a cleaning company, and worked his way up from porter to manager. Following a layoff and six months without a job, he found work in the trades and learned carpentry, plumbing, electrical work, and sheet rocking construction. But there was something he had to get back to.
 
“My education is something I always wanted,” he explained. “I want to better myself and I want my family to be proud of me.”
 
Today, his accomplishments are certainly worthy of pride. Last month Freddy accepted LVA’s Essex County Student of the Year Award. In an acceptance speech at the ceremony, he seemed amazed by his own achievements and willingly shared his story.
 
“I can only remember reading one book in the last 18 years,” Freddy told the crowd gathered at the East Orange Public Library. “And now I’m about to finish reading book number 9. I am so happy. The program continues to help me. Even right now.
 
“It helps me not to be afraid to read in front of all of you,” he continued, glancing at the speech he’d penned for the event. “Of course, we all have different goals. So, don’t let anyone stop you from reaching yours. Turn that negative into something positive. Because it will definitely change your life.”

---

Cristina
by Russell Ben Ali

It was a year full of promise for Cristina, an immigrant from Peru with dreams of becoming a U.S. citizen.
 
Her eldest son was headed to college, her baby boy would turn one, and she was about to take her citizenship test, after months of studying with two volunteer tutors. She aced the exam in January, on her first attempt.
 
“My tutors helped me a lot to study for my citizenship,” Cristina said of volunteers Susan Dorman-Dzubina and Ann Moore. “Without them, I might not have passed my interview.”
 
Cristina became eligible to vote, apply for federal jobs, and enjoy all the benefits afforded citizens. It was clearly the best of times.
 
Then came February. As she woke in the middle of the night to nurse her crying infant, Cristina smelled smoke. A raging fire quickly followed, sparked by a faulty apartment electrical system. She grabbed her baby and, along with her husband and older son, fled to the street. Outside in the cold, in their pajamas, they were met by neighbors who brought them blankets and shoes. They lost their clothing, they lost their furniture, and they lost their home. The firemen did manage to save one item… her precious handbag that contained all of her important documents.
 
“This last year for me was good and not so good,” Cristina explained.
 
In the wake of an unspeakable setback, Cristina struggled to return to the library and meet with her tutors, a testament to her determination to learn.  Ann Moore said, I have been working with Cristina for about two years. During this time, I have been very impressed with her commitment to learn English...all while raising her family. Cristina has a wonderful, upbeat attitude and is an impressive role model for her family, her fellow students and her community. I thoroughly enjoy having Cristina in my class.”
 
Her older son, now a business major at Montclair State University, babysits his younger brother while Cristina’s at the library. He also helps his mom with her homework, when she gets stuck, and the family watches TV together in English.
 
In Lima, Cristina once studied English for a year but, in her own words, “I forgot my English. When I came to this country I had to start over.” She particularly felt lost, she said, when trying to understand spoken English. Today, she feels at ease reading about historical figures, learning about the United States, practicing grammar, and expressing her opinions with tutors and fellow students. And listening to theirs: In English.
 
“I am learning very well,” she said.

---

Milton
by Debbie Graham

Milton studies English the way he cuts his clients’ hair: with razor sharp precision and focus. Milton works more than 40 hours each week as a highly skilled barber. And, in his spare time, he’s a fitness buff.
 
But his number one priority these days is found neither in the salon nor the gym but at the Bloomfield Public Library where Milton spends long hours every week studying with two separate tutors in a dogged pursuit of English literacy.
 
In fact, for Milton, who left high school with a diploma despite reading at an elementary school level, the LVA program is something of a second chance.
 
“I didn’t pay attention when I was in high school,” said Milton. “But I know how important language is now.” It can be crucial in terms of career choices, especially for Milton, a tradesman who would like to attend college, study business, then open his own barber shop.
 
Learning to read did not come easily to Milton. He spent his childhood in Jamaica and, when he moved to the U.S. at age 13, he struggled to learn what his teachers called “American English”. Because of his heavy Jamaican accent, he was placed in special education classes.
 
He didn’t fare well there but that’s old news. Today, Milton shows a unique and unwavering passion to learn, as an adult student, and his desire is something he attributes to his tutors and his grandmother, who is now 101 years old. “My grandma was very influential in my life,” Milton said. “She taught me how to push myself and appreciate what someone else gives you.”
 
Newly influential are Milton’s LVA tutors, Gina Biglin and Abby Kane. Gina, he says, shows great patience as she teaches him how to break down words and better understand what he’s reading. Abby has helped Milton communicate his own message, which he said opens a lot of avenues and helps him better understand what’s going on in the world.
 
“I came to LVA because I was looking for a program to help me read and comprehend better,” Milton said. “When I got here, I realized it was the program for me.”
 
Since his enrollment, Milton has shown great potential and increased his reading and comprehension abilities. He is currently tackling “The Five Love Languages: The Secret to Love that Lasts,” a self-help book on relationships from best-selling author Gary Chapman, and he’s thankful for the support that’s helped him understand what he reads.
 
“There are a lot of people that don’t deserve help and the reason why I say that is because when you get help and do not take advantage of it, you don’t really deserve the help,” Milton said. “My tutors put a lot of effort into helping me and I am in LVA to learn.”

---

Solange & Katty
by Debbie Graham

Although Solange and Katty’s early paths were different, these sisters had the same common goal: to learn English.
 
These Ecuadorian sisters arrived in the United States separately, Solange after living for 9 1/2 years in Spain and raising a young son, and Katty came directly from Ecuador at their father’s request.  Katty said, “He wanted the family all together. He thought we would have more opportunities.”
 
And, that they did. Katty studied English at Essex County College, and Solange, the older sister (by one year), worked as a waitress in a restaurant where she not only earned a living, but, began a new life. It was there she met her husband-to-be and they have been together for seven years.
 
Solange and Katty’s most joyful accomplishments are raising their children and assimilating as a family into life in the United States. Of course, their Ecuadorian culture and food are held in high regard, but also the sisters are making a new life in New Jersey.
 
It was Solange who found Literacy Volunteers of America, Essex & Passaic Counties. Katty said, “Solange found out about the program through friends. It is inexpensive, it is good, so, she asked me if I would like to come with her. In the car, driving to our first meeting at the library, I felt good. My sister found a good opportunity to learn English together. Our tutor is special.”
 
Their tutor, Marianne, a former elementary school teacher, stressed from day one that their native language is important to them and their children. She went on to add that it is something they should never forget. However, to assimilate into a new country, they need to have command of the English language in order to help both Solange and Katty and their children.
 
Their main impetus for enrolling in LVA was to enable Solange and Katty to help their children with schoolwork. Marianne saw that they applied for Bloomfield Public Library cards. They were able to obtain their cards even though they are not Bloomfield residents, due to having their LVA identification card.
 
Solange and Katty work with Marianne at least four hours a week. Four fun hours, I might add. Frequently, an office staff member has to remind them that in fact, they ARE in a library.
 
Marianne weaves in grammar, pronunciation, spelling, and comprehension into her 2-days-per-week lessons. Topics are often centered around practical needs that occur in everyday life. Last week, one of the LVA staff walked into their study room and saw a detailed hand drawn picture of the inner workings of a toilet. One of the students was having a plumbing issue in her house, and Marianne, also a former attorney, was going to do all in her power to help the student get the necessary problem addressed. And, she did.
 
Marianne commented, “I have seen that Solange and Katty have become more verbal and more comfortable with using the English language. LVA has given them more self-confidence in their oral and written English language skills.”
 
Both students are currently homemakers, which as every mother knows, is a 24/7 job. Another reason Solange and Katty want to improve their literacy is to seek employment outside the home when their responsibilities lessen during the school year. Currently, Solange has succeeded in finding a part time job, but Katty’s daughter is younger and Katty knows home is where her time is best spent.

---

Ana
by Russell Ben Ali

For an architect trained overseas, the obstacles to finding work in the U.S. can be daunting. Some find it challenging to visualize things in feet and inches, when most of the world uses the international system of units, known as the metric system.
 
Some find it difficult to communicate in English.
 
It’s enough to make the average draftswoman throw up her hands in resignation, and possibly try another field. But there’s nothing average about Ana, an architect from the Dominican Republic and English student extraordinaire.
 
In fact, she’s taken on the language challenge like a boss, setting something of record as a student who began her studies at a 5th grade level of English comprehension and rose to an 11th-grade level within months.
 
 "Ana is awesome,” said Dean Garcia, one of Ana’s tutors at LVA. “She immigrated to the United States less than six months ago, speaking very little English, and now is holding her own during casual conversations.”
 
Another of her tutors, Noelle Drollas, said “Sometimes I have to remind myself that she has only been in the country for a few months. She is getting so good at English that she is translating English words to Spanish to help fellow students pick up the finer shades of meanings.”
 
Even the staff at LVA have marveled at her progress. They describe Ana, who volunteers in the office, as respectful, focused, determined, and hard-working - - someone who goes beyond what’s asked of her in order to help students and staff, be it in Spanish or in English.
 
If the key to learning a new language is practice, it’s no wonder that this quiet and confident learner has excelled. Just take a look at her schedule.
 
For 16 hours each week, she attends classes held in English at New Community Corporation’s Adult Learning Center in Newark.
 
At LVA, she studies with two different tutors, meeting them for a total of four hours per week.
 
“Her diligence and effort in improving her English language skills is nothing short of incredible,” said Dean, the tutor. “She arrives to class early, stays late, does her homework, and mentors her classmates inside and outside the classroom. I feel fortunate to have her as a member of my class.”
 
Ana also spends two-and-a-half hours every week as an LVA office volunteer. And she immerses herself in English at home.
 
“I only watch American TV and I only listen to American radio,” said Ana, who described herself as a fan of HGTV (Home & Garden Television) and the Food Network.
 
Home & Garden seems a natural fit for a designer, but the Food Network?
 
“I love to cook,” she explained, describing with delight the dishes that she and her grandmother prepared for family members every Sunday back in the Dominican Republic. “I cook pasta, with cheese like my grandma made, milk, garlic, onion, and pepper. My husband says my specialties are salads and sandwiches - - lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, carrots, olives, cranberries, almonds, feta cheese, croutons. This is my signature salad.”
 
She gets plenty of practice, cooking for weekly gatherings of relatives from New Jersey and New York, she said.
 
Back in her native Santiago, Dominican Republic, Ana, the middle-born of three daughters, earned a degree in architecture from Pontificia Universidad Catolica Madre y Maestra. For nearly two years she drafted designs at a local architectural firm that specialized in the design of cabanas in Jarabacoa, a mountain resort town south of Santiago.
 
Once she’s satisfied with her English fluency, Ana will likely take on the matter of returning to the field of architecture or studying interior design at a U.S. university.
 
“It is difficult for me not to be able to work in my field,” said Ana, who described herself as a creative person. “I can’t work because I don’t have the proper work documents. I can’t work as an actual architect but I can work in an architectural firm.”
 
In the meantime, she remains hopeful.