Tutor Spotlights

LVSC’s Kathy England was one of three tutors chosen from the entire state of New Jersey for Literacy NJ's Volunteer Excellence Award. Awards were presented at the close of Literacy for Life 2.0, a virtual conference for adult literacy practitioners. In remote attendance were eight of Kathy's students and the LVSC staff cheeering her on!

Kathy is a tutor, conversation group leader, and Student Outreach Committee mentor.  She began her service with LVSC in 2010, first as a one-to-one tutor and then as a group leader.  

Just before the pandemic started, Kathy volunteered to serve as the Tutor Mentor of LVSC's newly created Student Outreach Committee. The purpose of the group is to provide students with an opportunity to volunteer while practicing English. Kathy identified student members and has very successfully led the group in publishing five editions of Connections, a newsletter for the LVSC community written by LVSC students. The committee now has four student members and the most recent issue of Connections had 18 submissions! 

I really appreciate {the recognition}, especially since it’s awarding me for something that I truly love doing and feel I’m already very rewarded for in the friendships that I have made with students, volunteers and staff.

-Kathy

Kathy is an amazing ESL instructor who always prepares interesting lesson plans geared toward student interests and needs. She helped two of her students greatly improve their English skills which led to professional jobs in their respective fields of banking and sales. One of these students became LVSC’s Student of the Year. The other spoke at an LVSC fundraising event and then became LVSC’s Student Ambassador.

Kathy has gone above and beyond during the pandemic to ensure students stay connected.

I can tell that there is a thirst for connection. Yesterday during the discussion part of the class a few students were sharing their worries and sorrows. They seemed to take comfort from one another…. I think a social platform is as important as anything else we provide.  

-Kathy

Eager to help students along on their language journeys, Kathy is always responsive to requests from the LVSC office to implement new and creative programs. In addition to getting the Student Outreach Committee and Student Newsletter up and running during the pandemic, she is also extending the committee’s work to a new area. This year, Kathy and members of the Student Outreach Committee will participate in an LVSC project called “Cultural Connections.” Through this project, a Humanities Scholar will lead a series of conversations about cultural adaptation and misunderstandings. Kathy has volunteered to be the lead tutor on this project and will help a diverse group of tutors and students articulate their immigrant experience and explore cultural similarities and differences. 

LVSC is honored to work with Kathy and we are proud that her contributions have been recognized with the Literacy New Jersey’s Volunteer Excellence Award! Congratulations to Kathy and to all of the amazing volunteers who have gone above and beyond this year to deliver quality literacy services…from a distance.