New Jersey Association of Lifelong Learning
Teacher of the Year 2018
The NJALL Teacher of the Year award went to our own Mary Kao, an LVA tutor for 17 years, as well as a trainer, a workshop presenter and, at times, a recruiter. She is one of our longest serving tutors and, at age 75, displays the enthusiasm of a rookie teacher. Mary learned the importance of literacy as a child. Her mother could speak four languages but couldn’t read or write in any because she was taken out of school at an early age by a father who believed that girls should learn to cook, sew, and maintain a household, rather than attend school.
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New Jersey Association of Lifelong Learning
Learner Writing Contest 2018
Winners of NJALL’s Learner Writing Contest 2017 were announced at the organization’s annual ceremony on May 11, 2018. The contest comes with cash prizes and the opportunity to be published in the NJALL annual literary magazine, “Insight.” The following LVA Essex & Passaic Counties students were recognized in the contest for these works:
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Ligia Avendano Alverez
A painful early marriage behind her, Ligia writes about moving to the United States with her young son in “Remembrance of Yesterday.” Visiting a local mall a few days after her arrival, she ran into an old friend, with the happiest possible outcome including a renewed friendship and an eventual marriage to the friend’s brother. She won a special mention in the memoir category.
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Gurpreet Bhatia
Gurpreet remembers her mother praying at the shocking attack on Malala Yousafzai, a young Pakistani girl shot by the Taliban in 2012. It caused her to wonder what was wrong with educating young girls and allowing them to watch tv and listen to music. “A Young Living Legend,” by Gurpreet won first place non-fiction.
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Karima Ejjoulali
One night, Karima woke up to silence at 1 a.m., while her husband slept peacefully beside her. She was consumed with loneliness. She longed to share a cup of coffee with her parents every evening, missed her friends and the life she knew in Morocco. Everything was new, but the stirring of her unborn baby restores her hope in “A Little Star,” which won special mention-memoir.
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Clifford Henry
A boy dreams of being Superman and growing up to be a doctor, but first wants to join the football team in Clifford’s story “The Little Superman.” There are some tense moments in this tale of love and determination as a father and coach worry about the boy after practice. The story won first place-fiction.
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Seung Hui Kim
Every kid can remember something their mother said over and over, many might recall: Did you do your homework? Seung remembers hearing “Seung Hui, come here and eat this!” She wrote beautifully about food, sacrifice and love in her memoir: “Yes, I’d love to Have Some More, Mom” which was awarded first place.
Getting a book receipt at the library detailing her savings of $20 that day borrowing books, moved Seung thinking about the power of books in her life in “How I Became A Library Enthusiast.” With her library card in hand, she has access to a world of books, which she wrote about and won second-place for non-fiction. |
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Damian Wilson
Wondering what it would be like to be sixteen again, Damian wrote “Sixteen” about growing up in Jamaica and not going to a regular high school. Instead she attended a job training center and went to work as a babysitter. She wrote about being sixteen again as an American high school student in this charming memoir that won an special mention in the memoir category.
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Insight 2018
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