Krista’s Thanksgivings

Hi, it’s Krista.  Though I’ve been teaching GED classes for 7 years, I just recently began teaching at the Interval Brotherhood Home in Akron.  I really enjoy working with the staff and clients here.  The staff is very friendly and helpful.  And the clients are very courteous and motivated to succeed. 

If you’re not familiar with IBH, it is a 60-90 day drug and alcohol rehabilitation center.  The treatment is nearly free to Summit County residents, due to local agencies that help with funding.  One part of the clients treatment is to work towards their GED, if they need one.  Project Learn provides this service.

My students here have given me even more things to be grateful for this Thanksgiving.  Every year my family makes a list of at least 10 things that we are each grateful for and we read our lists during Thanksgiving dinner.  My list usually includes the usual:  family, health, happiness, etc.  This year I am going to include something new, freedom from substances. 

I have personally never had to worry about drugs, alcohol, and cigarettes.  I am extremely thankful that I don’t even have to think about avoiding these things; I grew up in an environment that made it easy for me to abstain.  I now have a new insight into how fortunate I have been.  There are many people out there that have not been as lucky as me.

I have a great respect for the men and women that have to fight their addictions daily.  It humbles me to work with such extraordinary people.  I’m grateful to Project Learn for giving me the opportunity to teach at IBH.  It’s going to be a great year, full of thankfulness.

Thanksgiving at Project Learn

Kolter here!  I’m basically a jack-of-all-trades when it comes to Project Learn duties:  I teach, coordinate the Practice GED test, and even make up most of the family literacy activities when I have the time in between work and school these days.  Both of which like to keep me pretty busy.

Now, normally in my ESOL (English Speakers of Other Languages) I throw parties.  You name it, I’ll find a reasons to have a party for it:  Halloween, Christmas, heck, even the beginning of summer.  And usually my students bring the best food imaginable:  papaya (a Laotian cabbage salad–not the fruit) guacamole, currie, sticky rice–at the Halloween party this year one of my volunteers even brought in Barberton Chicken.  It’s usually a regular cornucopia of cuisine and delicacies.  I used to tell them to bring whatever they’d like, but now, in regards to all the international food, I usually recommend it.  What can I say?  My students spoil me rotten.  But last night we ended up with a somewhat impromptu soiree.  It all started with some promotional pictures and some pumpkin cookies made by one of our volunteers that I may have discreetly suggested she make–now, I say a lot of things in my classes; I don’t actually expect people to do it.  Anyway, after a rousing speech, a number of students volunteered to “model” for some promotional pictures that we plan to send out to all of the organizations and individuals that supported us this year.  While standing in the sidelines to help my beginning students with Teresa’s, our volunteer graphic designer and photographer, directions, I noticed not only how diverse our student population is–we have students from Laos, Columbia, Myanmar, Mexico, Brazil, and even the good old US of A–but also how truly grateful our students are and appreciative they can be.  Let’s be honest.  How many of us would really want our picture to be on promotional material that will be sent to hundreds of strangers?  Well, except me, but Rick, our executive director, doesn’t usually give me much of a choice. 

 But the point really hit home once I explained the purpose of Thanksgiving in America and asked them to describe the things that they were truly thankful for in their life.  It’s truly humbling to hear the appreciation the students expressed for me as their teacher, my volunteers, and also for our program.  Moments like these help me remember the difficulties that they faced in their own countries and the realities of struggling to live in a country where most people couldn’t even comprehend the suggestion of learning another language.  I’m simply happy that I have the opportunity to provide them with the skills to help them navigate through a overwhelming monoglot society.  The desire to learn English is there, and they, sometimes to my dismay, never cease asking me for more homework. 

Very few people, I think, have the opportunity to go to work and feel like they can make a positive impact in the lives of others .  One of the perks to the jobs!  And while I know I’ll never be at the high-end of the career ladder when it comes to salary, I have the opportunity to head home, knowing that I brought someone the gift of true freedom through education.  Life is fortunate when it is truly rewarding, and days like these keep me smiling when I head into my classroom every single day.

PLCC GED class

I’m Krista the ABLE instructor at Portage Lakes Career Center.  At our site, we have Pre-GED, GED, and Pre-Nursing students. 

 We have about 25 students currently coming to class.  Our students have been post-testing this week.  Most of the 14 students that post-tested have made much progress.  Some of our students increased 5 grades or more since starting the class.  Way to go class!!!  We should have about 6 students ready for the GED before the end of the year.  Enjoy the Thanksgiving break. 

See you on the 27th of November!

Testing… One, two, three!

The world is changing, and so is the way people communicate and gather information.

In an effort to keep up with today’s time, Project Learn, Summit County’s only community-based literacy organization, has started a blog! We wanted to start a blog so that the community could develop a relationship with our organization no matter where they are in the world. Hopefully you will be excited to hear what Project Learn staff and students will have to say about their experiences, good or bad.

We want you to know that we are real people who are trying to help our community. So, feel free to tell us what you think about our work and the newest addition to our family— this blog!

The Project Learn Community

Welcome!

Welcome to Project Learn of Summit County’s blog.

The purpose of this blog is for agency staff and students to share their reflections and experiences. We hope this blog will help people better understand the important work we do and appreciate the commitment and dedication of our staff and students.