Bearing bad weather for good cause
Joe Stender Perspectives Editor
Issue date: 4/9/09 Section: News
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The students showed up to Triangle Park, downtown Lock Haven, in order to raise awareness for literacy.
Though the weather was not ideal, the turnout was still good, according to Laura Novak, the organizer of the event.
"They did a good job toughing out the weather and staying throughout the night," Novak said about the students staying for the event even though the conditions were not ideal.
The attendees experienced rain, wind and cold weather for most of the night, which created problems when they were trying to build their cardboard houses.
Like in past years for the other sleep out events, the students built cardboard houses to stay the night in.
Though some did spend the night in their cardboard homes, others opted for tents to keep dry from the weather.
Michelle Bates from the Development Center for Adults stopped by the event and spoke to the attendees.
She spoke about her experience with the center and the services that they offer, as well as literacy, as this was the night's issue.
Bates, a former school teacher, started off by defining literacy as "an individual's ability to read, speak and write in English."
She also told the group how 26 percent of people drop out before they graduate from high school.
"It's not because they're stupid, I hate that word; it's some opportunity or choice that happened," Bates said on the dropout percentage.
It is also important that the teaching is done early by reading to the children.
Bates showed how literacy affects society by giving the example of the election.
The election was greatly affected by literacy since some voters were unable to choose a candidate based on the issues, since they could not read up on the candidate.
As for the Development Center for Adults, they partner with CareerLink.
CareerLink will place a client in one of the center's programs so that they can better learn the skills needed to perform their job.
The center offers an adult education program, a GED program and English as a second language class.
There are also volunteers that give classes in prisons.
Bates is one of the teachers that goes to the prisons and admitted that she was a bit apprehensive when she first began going.
Bates also talked about the factors that deter adults from entering the programs.
Time is one of the obstacles in the way of adults, especially since half of the students in the programs are single parents.
The students also are lacking in confidence, Bates noted.
"My biggest job is to really be a cheerleader," Bates said of having to keep the students motivated during their free programs.
After Bates' speech, the attendees were given time to work on their cardboard houses.
Those who chose to participate in the spelling bee went through rounds of words until a champ was crowned and this was Chris Brittain from the Honors Program.
"I just want to thank all of those who participated for their hard work," said Novak about the combined 540 hours that was served by all the participants of the event.
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