My experience in the education field is what sparked my interest to volunteer for Literacy Rochester. I have held various roles in the field of education as a high school business teacher, mentor teacher and staff development trainer. After retiring from teaching in 2007, I continued to teach part-time at my alma mater, Nazareth College, teaching Freshman Seminar and supervising student teachers until 2017. Because of my education background, volunteering here at Literacy Rochester was a perfect fit for me. Does that mean you need to have an education background to tutor our students? Absolutely not. What I hear from the individuals who decide they would like to become a tutor is that they have a passion for reading and want to pass that along to others. Or, they have an interest in helping out someone who recently immigrated to this country and needs to learn the English language. Our training sessions are designed to give tutors the tools they need to be successful.
One of the best things for me about volunteering at Literacy Rochester is the people I have met and gotten to know. Each year at our annual awards ceremony, our learners and tutors share their success stories. I feel very fortunate to be a part of this organization and to have had the ability to play a part in these success stories. Literacy Rochester plays a significant role in our community in helping individuals to read and speak English so that they can become successful members of our community.
Outside of volunteering at Literacy Rochester, I enjoy gardening, reading and snowshoeing. I also enjoy traveling with my husband, Rich, and spending time with family, especially my two grandsons Ben who is five and Aiden who is two.