LITERACY ENCOURAGED

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4 What is NIE? News In Education is a cooperative effort with local schools to utilize The Modesto Bee as a learning tool in the classroom. NIE reinforces a positive and relevant lifetime reading habit in students by engaging them with up-to-date news and information in an easy-to-read format. NIE provides teaching materials and digital access to The Bee at no cost to schools and learning facilities. This is made possible through donations made by community members, businesses and The Bee subscribers. For more information visit the NIE website at www.modbee.com/nie. (Print information below or attach business card) Name ___________________________________________________________ Title ____________________________________________________________ Company/Org. ____________________________________________________ Address _________________________________________________________ City ___________________________________________ Teachers, keep your students connected to the community and the world. Register for this no cost program at: www.modbee.com/nie The Bee’s electronic edition, eBee, is available to classrooms through internet access. NIE’s electronic edition is an exact replica of the printed newspaper. It is easy to navigate and teachers can project or print what’s applicable to their lesson plans. Each day’s edition is accessible for an entire week. Valuable teacher and parent resources are available on the NIE website. Reading the newspaper helps students learn what they need to succeed and has a positive effect on student attitudes toward school, community and subject matter. For more information on the NIE/eBee program contact Patty Tharp at 578-2226 or email ptharp@modbee.com YES! I want to make a difference! Please add my name, title and business/organization name to your list of supporters. ZIP _____________ Phone __________________________________________________________ Make checks payable to: Stanislaus Literacy Centers 1032 11th St., Modesto CA 95354 To give securely online go to http://www.readingworks.net/donate.html and click on “bring reading to lives.” For more information, contact Karen Williams, Director of Learning Quest-Stanislaus Literacy Centers at (209) 522-0656. THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING <strong>LITERACY</strong> The Stanislaus Literacy Center, the Literacy Network of Stanislaus County and The Modesto Bee’s News in Education would like to thank the businesses, organizations and individuals who supported this year’s “Sign-on To Literacy” Campaign. These contributions raised more than $11,000 for literacy in Stanislaus County and will help improve the literacy of our residents. Currently, 43% of adults read at basic level or below. To help adults be better equipped to fill out job applications and read to their children, we need to have literacy and basic education programs available. Thank you for helping to bring reading to the lives of Stanislaus County adults and children. $1, 000 OR MORE DIAMOND CONTRIBUTOR Mary Lou Hacker $500 - $999 PLATINUM CONTRIBUTORS Garrad Marsh Mayor City of Modesto Hank Barrett President/CEO Valley First Credit Union George and Anne Britton $200 - $499 GOLD CONTRIBUTORS Harry and Donna Bakker Tim Billington President/CEO Billington Welding and Manufacturing George and Anna Boodrookas Tim Coppedge President Modern Steel Structures Ron and Janice Emerzian Evergreen Nursing and Rehabilitation Care Center Garrad Marsh Owner McHenry Bowl Harold Mulnix In memory of Betty Mulnix Thomas and Sandra Nett Bruce Valentine, DDS Alice Vera Marketing Communications MOSCE Credit Union $100-$199 SILVER CONTRIBUTORS George and Marie Bairey Rick Bartkowski Assistant Superintendent Stanislaus County Offi ce of Education Vanessa Czopek County Librarian Stanislaus County Library Ron and Lynn Dickerson Mary Lou Dieterich Judy and Tim Fisher Owners The Fisher Group Louis and Kenni Friedman John F. Gerling President Gerling Applied Engineering Janelle and Tom Gray Dr. Tom Van Groningen Martha Gausman Pat Glattke Dr. Sean Hancock San Joaquin College Keith Highiet Ass’t. Manager Modesto Junk Co. Recycle Center Steve Holloway General Manager Bertolotti Dispoal Susan and Eric Johnston Craig C. Lewis CEO Prudential California Realty Stan and Adele Little StanDel Consulting, Inc. Richard and Jeanine Monteith Supervisor Stanislaus County Paul and Pamela Neumann Tom Norquist Vice President Tenney A. Norquist Tammy Olson Martin and Sharon Petersen Retired Stanislaus County Superintendent of Schools Judie Piscitello Kim and David Rose Board Member Stanislaus County of Education Bob and Brenda Schmidt Roger and Delsie Schrimp Matt and Tima Seward Randy and Susan Siefkin Steven A. Smith Attorney-at-law Lorese G. Vandemark, DDS Did you know? Tom Van Groningen, EdD TVG Consulting Alec and Sofi a Villiagomez for kids who like to read Tom C. Watling, Ph.D Jim and Jessie West Karen and David Williams Stanislaus Literacy Center/ Turlock Chaplaincy $50 TO $99 BRONZE CONTRIBUTORS Judy Chamberlain Steve and Linda Collins Francine DiCiano President/CEO United Way of Stanislaus County Linda Kenyon Walt and Anne Kletke Irene Moran Ray and Patty Tharp Toni Tumbarello Terriann Zeek, Owner Terriann Zeek Tutoring Services RIGHT NOW YOU ARE DOING SOMETHING 880 MILLION PEOPLE CAN’T. 5
6 Awards Night and Graduation Being honored is a new experience for many Walking into a graduation ceremony with Pomp and Circumstance playing and wearing a cap and gown are things most of the 155 GED graduates of LearningQuest – Stanislaus Literacy Centers never expected to happen. Literacy students tend to hide what they do not know rather than be recognized for what they do know. An estimated 500 people attended the graduation and awards night festivities on August 16 and watched teary-eyed as their family and friends received diplomas or other awards. “Every year, we have more and more people come to this event,” said Executive Director Karen Williams. “It’s the favorite night of the year for our program because it’s a celebration many of our students never expected to have.” The following were given major awards of accomplishment: Valedictorian: Lorena Munoz passed her GED test with a total average score of 688 out of 800 with four of five scores in the top 10% of the country and three of those in the top 2%. Greatest Achievement for GED: Destiny DeDios was recognized because she went from eighth grade level on her first reading test to a perfect score in reading on the GED test. She is a single mother with a two-year-old child who lost her housing while attending class, but still managed to attend regularly and finish her studies. She now is enrolled in community college with a goal of becoming a registered nurse. Best Effort for GED: Patrick LeJander also completed his GED in spite of having an insecure living situation. Patrick dropped out of high school because he was living on the streets. By the time he was 16, he didn’t have the ability to keep up with school work while trying to find shelter and food every day. A friend’s parent gave him a place to stay while he studied for his GED. He passed in June and is enrolled at Modesto Junior College. Most Improved for GED: Brittany Waldo first came to ReadingWorks (now called LearningQuest) when she was 17 and read at sixth grade level. After two months of hard work, her reading level improved to ninth grade. She moved away but kept up her reading. When she moved back and re-enrolled a year later, she read at tenth grade level. She only needed to work on her math skills. For the next two months she did this and passed with a good score. She is now enrolled at MJC. GED Volunteer Tutor of the Year: Arthur Davis has been volunteering daily for four years and helps students at all levels from working on basic reading skills to math. He said he struggled as a teenager and young adult and someone took the time to guide him in the right direction. He wanted to do the same and has done just that – from volunteering as a surgeon in Africa to reading with elementary children and tutoring adults at LearningQuest. Greatest Achievement in Literacy: Vanessa Perez came to the literacy center, she read at seventh grade level and had a desire to get her GED. She started out with a reading tutor twice a week and then started meeting two additional days a week with a math tutor. Her skills improved enough she was able to qualify to attend the Learning Center for six additional hours of tutoring. Because of her persistence and dedication, her goal of getting her GED is nearly completed. Best Effort in Literacy: Lydia Duran was assessed at a fifth grade reading level when she started. In the past six months, she only missed one session due to a family emergency. Because she spends three hours a week in tutoring and six hours a week on reading and writing assignments, her reading level is now seventh grade and her writing has dramatically improved. While her first book summary was only a few lines long, she now writes two pages with full details. Most Improved: Since January, Nand Kishore has perfect attendance and always comes to class on time and prepared. He has improved from a seventh grade reading level to eleventh grade reading level in only six months. Literacy Volunteer of the Year: Bob Moore was trained as a tutor in October 2012. At that same time, a young man who was incarcerated had almost no reading or writing skills needed to be tutored. Bob has had to come up with his own techniques and materials. These have been highly effective and his student can now both read and write at a third grade level. Weather did not deter the goal of learning English Looking outside her window in Riverbank the winter of 2007, Laura Martinez would watch the rain hitting the street and think about her 2½-mile trek to English classes with her two-month-old baby and her three-year-old son and sigh. Then she would bundle them up, get out the umbrella and begin her twice-a-week journey. “I would think about not going to class, but I would remember about that goal I had set to learn English and the promise I had made to myself. So I would get my children ready and I would walk to class,” she said. Every fall, winter and spring for the next six years, she would walk, regardless of weather, to her classes at California Avenue Elementary in Riverbank offered by Stanislaus Literacy Center (now known as LearningQuest). Laura moved to Riverbank from Mexico in 2001 and joined her husband Victor Orosco, who was already living there and spoke English fairly well. She spoke no English and didn’t think she would need to learn. But when her oldest child Victor, now 12, started kindergarten in 2007, she realized he would be learning the alphabet and reading English and she didn’t want him to pass her up. She also wanted to be able to help him with school and communicate with his teachers. She found out that English classes were being offered and made a goal for herself to learn the language. If her son was going to learn to read and write it, so would she. Victor is very proud of his wife’s accomplishments. “She is always surprising me with what she knows. She can read and write in English much better than I can, and I’m often surprised at the words she knows how to read and the things she can write,” he said. “Because of these classes, she has been able to help my oldest son a lot.” The family’s kitchen table has a glass top displaying a multitude of certificates earned by Laura and her three children. But it’s not big enough, so more cover the refrigerator and cupboard doors. They are a testament to the way Laura and Victor value education. They beam as the children point out their awards. Victor credits his wife with how well the children are doing in school. “She has helped them a lot,” he said. “She is involved in the school and able to read the papers they bring home.” Laura also volunteers at her children’s school, Mesa Verde Elementary, and this year is the president of its PTA. The children proudly display a stack of books she reads to them in English, of course – another indication of how much this family values education. The children are bilingual and speak easily in either language. After six years of English classes, Laura is in the most advanced group and was a volunteer this past year in a beginning class. The teacher, Marlene Ramirez, is grateful for her help and said she is an inspiration to the other students. “She can tell them, I didn’t use to be able to do this either, but I learned, and so can you.”
Page 1 and 2: LITERACY ENCOURAGED The statistics
Page 3: A very good year for Delton Miller
Page 7: Literacy Network of Stanislaus Coun

LITERACY ENCOURAGED

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