Reading Lab Program Marks New Beginning for 33 Adults
Hyacinth Valentine stepped to the mike, grinned at her fellow graduates and the audience of families, friends and officials, and proceeded to deliver her remarks, referring at times to the three pages of notes she held in her hand. Poise overtook a few awkward pauses as the single mother of four easily got the audience to chuckle with her.
Like many a valedictory address that has gone before hers, Valentine’s brief speech was both personal and universal--full of praise for the teacher who had guided her to and through the adult literacy program, remembrance of the pain and failures of the past, the difficulty of achievement and the hope, determination and confidence of someone who having tasted victory is now going out to meet the world:
“I was at a point in my life where I almost gave up--there was so much to deal with. I did really try, but somehow it seems I was going downhill with the children and everything that was against me.
Not the Only One
“I look forward to coming to school every day. Each time I learn something new about myself and what I’m capable of. It is so thrilling to know that I am not the only one in the world who has this reading disability. Before I used to feel so ashamed and think I was no good. Now all that negative idea is vanished. Life is what I make out of it.”
She had turned her life around. So much so, she revealed, that an added benefit was the weight she has begun taking off--15 pounds and 25 to go: “I will make it because I feel good about myself.”
In fact, all 33 members of the Los Angeles Times Reading Lab’s first graduating class seemed to be feeling good about themselves at Monday’s ceremony and reception at The Times. They had just completed a 100-hour course, taken in daily one-hour classes since December, 1987 in the new IBM computerized lab that has been designed to promote and improve literacy among Times employees and members of the community.
In a room decorated with the pictures of the first students’ choice, role models Pope John Paul II and Magic Johnson, they had all started out with a reading level of fifth grade or below. They had raised their level an average of two grade levels, increased their reading and writing abilities and vocabularies, learned touch typing and the beginnings of computerized word processing skills.
In addition, about half of the students had improved their knowledge of English, a second language to their Spanish, some with the expressed purpose of qualifying for citizenship.
Community Support
They had come to the program through the help of nearby community agencies, all of which had representatives on hand for the ceremony. The Chrysalis Center, the Downtown Women’s Center, Las Familias del Pueblo, Los Angeles Men’s Place, 9th Street Elementary School, CSO--PUENTE Learning Center, the Remedial Reading and Learning Center, St. Vincent de Paul Men’s Center, Union Rescue Mission and the Weingart Center had clients in the first class and had provided tutorial help to the program.
Like Valentine, most of the graduates have not known a lot of success in recent years. Homelessness, unemployment, discrimination, physical and mental illness, upheaval, and just plain hard luck were familiar problems to some. More than once during the ceremony and reception, their courage in accepting a new challenge as adults was acknowledged--often with pride and admiration from their family members.
Such was the case for Eufemia Yela and Concepcion Vasquez, originally from Ecuador and Mexico. They stood accepting congratulations at the reception--to the clear delight of their families.
“They learned a lot. They really did,” Yvonne Yela said of her mother and Vasquez. “Go on,” she said, prodding her mother, a former factory worker. “Tell them your plans.” Not in a mood for specifics, Yela smiled at her daughter and said, “To keep on learning.”
