Literacyworks Center Student Spotlight
Aaron attended an alternative high school for underachieving students. School was not his primary focus; instead, his friends and social life were his priority. He eventually applied to Santa Rosa JC without much enthusiasm or confidence. It soon became clear that this was his life and he had to decide what he was going to do with it. So Aaron took advantage of the support services at the JC and was referred to Literacyworks Center. He became one of our stellar students; his confidence and determination are growing as his natural leadership skills emerged not only in the Literacyworks program, but also in other programs on the Petaluma campus. He worked extremely hard both in his schoolwork and his on-campus job. Aaron told a group of participants at a workshop, “that it’s great to know Literacyworks has my back.” At another meeting, he talked of getting a law degree so he could have a positive impact on the lives of others.
Aaron graduated in Spring semester 2018 with an AA in Sociology. He reported he had been accepted to UC Berkeley with a full scholarship and started this Spring semester as a Junior. He is the first in his family to attend college, but he said he would not be the last.
Aaron’s commitment now is to serving other young people so they could avoid the difficulties he experienced in high school. After completing his education, he plans to create a program that supports youth and help them stay out of gangs. The Literacyworks staff asked Aaron to take the lead in establishing a Literacyworks Center alumni organization that will honor our student’s accomplishments, inspire them to follow their dreams, and create the future they want for themselves. He has agreed to make time and to give back to the Center.
Literacyworks Center Update
The Center staff has conducted two well-attended workshops since the turn of the 2019 year. We addressed issues of study skills, decision-making, time management, and collaborative learning. We presented the idea of having an online resource page and directory of Literacyworks students so they could arrange meeting in small groups. The students liked the idea. One student asked for tutoring in math, and another student agreed to help. One student that graduated in January came to the workshop to show off his new Sonoma State ID card. He wants to become a teacher. Another student that had to stop out for the fall semester brought her beautiful new baby son to the workshop. The staff is currently gearing up to start the one to one interviews with all one hundred and ten students. This process of individually interviewing each student has proven to be an invaluable and informative part of enhancing the program’s success.
Upcoming Literacyworks Lectures
CHERRIE MORAGA
Friday, April 26, 2019 Copperfield's in Santa Rosa (Montgomery Village) 775 Village Court, Santa Rosa
Cherríe L. Moraga is a writer and an activist. A cofounder of Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press, Moraga co-edited the highly influential volume This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color in 1981. A former Artist-in-Residence at Stanford, Moraga was recently appointed a professor in the Department of English at UC-Santa Barbara, where, with her artistic partner Celia Herrera Rodriguez, she will institute Las Maestras Center for Chicana and Indigenous Thought and Art Practice. She is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Theatre Playwriting Fellowship Award and a Rockefeller Fellowship for Literature.
FREE TICKETS AT: https://www.copperfieldsbooks.com/event/literacyworks-copperfields-books-present-cherrie-moraga
DAVID BROOKS
Thursday, May 2, 2019 Thursday, May 2, 2019 - 8:00am; Petaluma Store 140 Kentucky Street Petaluma
David Brooks became an Op-Ed columnist for The New York Times in September 2003. His column appears every Tuesday and Friday. He is currently a commentator on “PBS NewsHour,” NPR’s “All Things Considered” and NBC’s “Meet the Press.” He is the author of “Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There” and “On Paradise Drive: How We Live Now (And Always Have) in the Future Tense.” In March 2011 he came out with his third book, “The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character, and Achievement,” which was a No. 1 New York Times best seller. Mr. Brooks also teaches at Yale University, and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
PURCHASE TICKETS: https://www.copperfieldsbooks.com/event/breakfast-david-brooks
Literacyworks Lectures Sponsors
