Reading Changed My Life - Townsend Press

Reading Changed My Life! Three True StoriesDark Harvest. In those years since her failed visit tothe library, Maria had still never read an entirebook. But as she leafed through this one, she realizedthat she read well enough to understand it all.Better than that, these stories were about peoplelike her. With growing fascination she read it coverto cover. She learned about other migrant workerswho, like her, had earned their GEDs. And evenmore exciting—some of them had gone on to college.Some of them were now teachers. Their storiesmade Maria realize that her dream wasn’timpossible at all.Alfonso learned about a federal program thathelped seasonal farm workers go to college. Mariaapplied to the program and was accepted. Herplacement tests showed that her reading, English,and math skills were at the seventh-grade level. Shewas encouraged; she had feared they would belower. The program recruiter suggested that Mariaenroll in some Adult Basic Education classes to raise24