Literacy New Jersey
Literacy for Life 2017 Awards

Student Excellence

   It’s nearly 2 a.m. and there are way better places to unwind than a dining room chair in your apartment, eyes glued to the English textbook in your lap. But, for Maritza Chang, there’s no better time or place for an immigrant mom bent on becoming fluent. “The kids are sleeping and there are no interruptions,” said Maritza, a child psychologist from Lima, Peru, and now an LVA student. “It’s better.” The grueling hours of study have done well by her. She went from being lost in everyday English conversation to making a presentation in English at the NJALL annual conference last year, given on the LVA English-Spanish Language Exchange that she coordinates as a volunteer. She was hired to work the front desk at the Bloomfield Public Library, often the first stop for patrons with questions. And she led a delicate but firm negotiation with her town’s school district in a campaign to keep her two daughters in their neighborhood school, despite the district’s attempt to move them to one designated for ESL students. “The district not only kept the girls in their original school but began a small ESL program there, where the girls quickly became fluent in English,” Literacy New Jersey board member Christine D’Agostino said, as she presented Maritza with a Literacy New Jersey “Student Excellence Award,” at the organization’s Literacy For Life 2017 conference last month.
 
   A second Student Excellence Award was presented to Justin Farro, and the Award for Tutor Excellence was earned by Susan George, both of Literacy Volunteers of Monmouth County. Literacy Volunteers of Salem/Cumberland won the 2017 Alice M. Leppert Award for Outstanding Affiliate Achievement. The Harry Van Houten Award for Lifetime Achievement was presented to Perrine Robinson-Geller, former board president of Literacy New Jersey, a much-in-demand workshop presenter, and a lifelong advocate of adult literacy. Nice work by all!