Literacy: Opening the Door to a World of Possibilities

Sarah Easley, PT Corps Member at Munger Place Church

“I see it.” If you are reading this, you probably didn’t give that sentence a second thought, but those three words put the biggest smile on a child’s face and tears in my eyes. See, to any ordinary person this sentence carries no value, but for one child it changed their life and opened the door to a world of possibilities.

It was his first sentence to ever read.

Five weeks ago this young boy could not recognize most of the letters in the alphabet, but with the help of one volunteer, thirty minutes a day, four days a week for a month, he can now read this sentence from a book. At this moment, even though he didn’t even realize it, this child’s life changed forever.

My name is Sarah Easley, and it’s moments like these that make me proud to be working with Project Transformation. I’m from a small town in Mississippi where the population is fewer than 500 people and there are far more acres of pastures than there are houses. Needless to say, coming to Dallas, Texas to spend a summer was a slight adjustment for me, but I couldn’t be more content about my decision. I’m a senior at Mississippi State University studying Elementary Education, so when I heard about Project Transformation last fall, I quickly applied and anxiously waited to hear back concerning my acceptance. Now here I am, nine months later serving as the Elementary Reading Coordinator for 73 elementary students at Munger Place Church in the heart of Dallas, Texas.

Working as a Reading Coordinator this summer has been my favorite job yet and it only reassures me of my decision to be a teacher. Every morning, I get to watch as these children interact with volunteers, developing their reading and comprehension skills. Then, I get to spend time with them myself in the afternoon, teaching them how to apply what they read in a text to their own life and various other literacy skills. I am so grateful to have this opportunity to practice running a classroom and teaching literacy while I am still in college. Even more so, I am glad that I get to have this experience in a positive, helpful, Christian environment with some of the most precious children in all of Texas!

“I see it.” One child’s life changed forever. What about you? How can you change a life for the better?