LA HABRA : Honored Tutor Wants to Do More

Eduardo Garcia carefully tapped the keys on a computer with two fingers, producing a poem called “Relaxing Flowers.”

The 9-year-old boy typed: “Five little flowers standing in the sun . . .”

After 15 minutes, Eduardo finished his 10 lines of verse under the guidance of tutor Rose Espinoza.

Espinoza, 42, has filled her garage on Fifth Avenue with two computers, shelves of books, desks and other classroom materials so she can tutor Eduardo and about 35 other neighborhood youngsters after school. She started the after-school school three years ago, to woo area children away from the streets and to their studies.

Espinoza’s homework headquarters was dubbed “Rosie’s garage” by the community. But more recently, the program was given a formal name and won national recognition, and now Espinoza is launching a fund-raising program to expand her free service to the summertime.

Called MAS or Motivating Adolescents to Succeed, the program last week was recognized by President Clinton. He picked Espinoza, a computer designer for Beckman Instruments in Brea, as one of 21 volunteers nationwide who received the prestigious Presidential Volunteer Action Award.

Espinoza wants to expand the enrichment program to the summer so her young pupils will be kept busy with recreational activities, sports leagues or arts classes. And since these youngsters come from poor families that cannot afford to buy athletic uniforms or pay for piano or dance lessons, Espinoza is asking local businesses and organizations to help her fund the program.

She’s named the fund campaign the “MAS Field of Dreams” because her students have never participated in organized sports leagues or joined a children’s performing troupe.

“The kids deserve it,” said Espinoza, who offers rewards to those who get straight A’s on their quarterly report cards, show improvement in their grades or get on their school’s honor roll.

The students range in age from 4 to 18, said Espinoza, whose sister, Victoria Kennedy, also helps tutor.

By all accounts, their work has helped students improve their grades, and most of the youngsters attribute their increased motivation to Espinoza’s guidance.

Luis Borja, 12, said he used to get Cs and Ds. “Now I get mostly Bs and some As,” said the Imperial Middle School sixth-grader. “We’re lucky that Rosie helps us because if she didn’t help us, nobody else would.”

Luis said his parents speak only Spanish and cannot help him with his schoolwork.

As an offshoot of her efforts, Espinoza persuaded the Fullerton Joint Union High School District to send a teacher to her garage four days a week so a dozen local parents could be tutored in English after their children leave.

Espinoza also occasionally takes her pupils on tours of nearby university and college campuses and on outings to museums, opera houses and theaters.

“Rosie is the best lady I ever met,” said Eduardo, a Las Positas Elementary School third-grader. “She always helps and worries about us and she takes us to places we’ve never been to before so we’ll like school and stay out of gangs and all that bad stuff.”