Mentoring Opens Book to Reading

Saturday mornings aren’t just for cartoons anymore. Thanks to some North Hollywood High School students, 120 elementary schoolchildren with limited English skills are working overtime Saturday mornings to learn how to read.

It’s part of a new 10-week program called “I Can Read,” developed by the Rotary Club of North Hollywood.

Yolanda Amavizca, 17, a mentor in the program, said she doesn’t mind giving up her Saturday mornings because she turned her struggle to learn English into a 3.8 grade point average with the help of mentors when she was younger.

“There are many kids going through what I went through,” she said. “I want to help motivate them to take the right path.”

The tutors, from North Hollywood High’s ABLE Academy of Future Teachers, were selected based on good grades, attitude and attendance. All are interested in pursuing careers in teaching.

The program, which began in February, is funded by an $18,000 grant from Rotary International for reading, spelling, word games and computer programs. The mentors are paid through the nonprofit Halcyon Center for Child Studies in Van Nuys.

“The kids are learning to read and write with this personal attention and guidance. It’s very meaningful,” said North Hollywood Rotary president and Halcyon Center director Gloria Gold.

Students who once grumbled about schoolwork on Saturdays have become excited about reading, Yoland said.

“By the end of the 10th week, you realize how you’ve totally changed their lives around. And now the kids know how much it was worth it.”

Classes take place at 8:30 a.m. each Saturday at Fair Avenue Elementary School and the First Presbyterian Church of North Hollywood. The program will take a summer break, but classes will start again in the fall.

Teachers refer students from Lankershim, Colfax Avenue, Oxnard Street, Camellia Avenue, Fair Avenue, Burbank Boulevard and Roscoe elementary schools.

KUDOS

Honored Volunteers: Seventh-grader Robyn Strumpf, 13, from Sierra Canyon Middle School in Chatsworth received recognition for her “Project Books and Blankies,” along with three other San Fernando Valley students named as finalists in the Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, a nationwide program that honors student volunteers.

They are: Daniella Fortuna, 14, a ninth-grader at Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks who volunteers at Childrens Hospital; Nikolaos Milonopoulos, 13, a seventh-grader at Campbell Hall in North Hollywood, for his work on trying to ban the sale of gun ammunition in Los Angeles; and Ashley Peterson, 17, a junior at Harvard-Westlake High School in North Hollywood who founded “Re-Read,” which collects and distributes magazines to homeless shelters in Los Angeles County.

Funny Fund-Raiser: Sophie Kipner and Michelle Bakva, juniors at Viewpoint School in Calabasas, recently raised nearly $3,500 for Doctors Without Borders, a nonprofit organization that delivers medical aid to remote regions worldwide.

The two produced a comedy show fund-raiser, featuring improv skits by other Viewpoint School students. The school requires 45 hours of community service for graduation. But Sophie and Michelle went beyond that, putting about four times the required hours into the project since October.

PROGRAM NOTES

Teachers Forum: “The Arts: A Key to Literacy,” is this year’s topic for the Performing Arts Center’s Institute for Educators hands-on five-day forum for kindergarten through eighth-grade teachers, held July 10-14 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. Dance, theater, music and visual arts artists will train educators on integrating the arts into the classroom. Fee is $350 for Los Angeles Unified School District teachers. To register, call Melinda Williams at (213) 202-2277.

Hands-On: More than 200 students from the Los Angeles Unified School District participated last week in the first Apprenticeship Day at Valley College.

Skilled workers, such as carpenters, bricklayers, sheet metal workers and plumbers, introduced students to the idea of an apprenticeship, which provides a paycheck while learning a craft.

“The program provides students an opportunity to learn about other careers they didn’t know existed,” said Susan Drapkin, the district’s coordinator for career and transition services.

Such skilled jobs pay from $11 to $33 an hour with experience and provide an alternative for noncollege-bound students. For information on apprenticeship programs, call Drapkin at (818) 781-1400, Ext. 232.

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