Literacy program needs volunteers

Shawn Williams folds his hands in his lap, looks down at his interlocked fingers and worries his forehead. He doesn’thave an answer, but he’d like one.

How, exactly, does he attract more volunteers to the regional adult literacy program? How,exactly, does he encourage people to break a cycle of povertyand grab hold of their own educations?

These are questions Williams comes to grips with daily as lead instructor at the Adult Education Center of Altamaha Technical College, in Glynn County.

“The community, as a whole, needs to be an advocate for literacy, in all ages,” Williams said. “As a community, we need to come together and fight illiteracy.”

In the classroom, Williams works with about 240 students in Glynn and McIntosh counties, helping adults of various ages and backgrounds gain the educational skills they have
yet to develop. Some are high school dropouts, while others simply drifted through school.

“My oldest student was 65 years old,” said Williams, who took on the position in February. “Whatever age you are, whatever level you are beginning at, when you’re ready, it will work. But the student has to make that choice to better his or her life and community.”

Williams and a small staff of instructors are leading a charge for self-improvement, fueled by genuine passion, said Sandra Williams, Altamaha Technical College dean of adult education, the supervising unit of the adult literacy and General Educational Development, or GED, programs.

The Adult Education Center of Altamaha Technical College, in Glynn County, will have a community involvement and volunteer sign-up lunch Aug. 31 for anyone interested in helping in its literacy program. It will be at the Adult Literacy Center, 2301 Stonewall St., Brunswick. Call 267-4115 for details.

“These are people out there doing it for the love of it,” she said. “They are out there to make a difference. They work through holiday breaks, nights, whenever they can get a student, they are there teaching.”

Shawn Williams is one of two full-time instructors for the two-county program, aided by eight part-time instructors, and he knows that 10 instructors alone cannot erase a 26 percent
illiteracy rate in Glynn County. “We need church leaders, county and city commissioners, chamber (of commerce) members, teachers, everyone we can get to get behind this cause,”
Shawn Williams said. “This change, in order to be successful, has to have community wide participation. This is a community wide issue. And we need everyone involved, to see any real change happen.”

The adult literacy program can use as many volunteers as it can get. It has only two now.  “We need people with a range of experiences,” Shawn Williams said. “Not just retired teachers, but people who can really connect, really inspire.”

Volunteers set their own schedules, ranging from 90 minutes a week to every day, if they desire. Volunteer instructors receive training and lesson plans, so they should have no concern about being ill-equipped to help teachers, Shawn Williams said.

“We give you everything you need,” he said. “Some volunteers can help with vocabulary lists, some can help go over test questions. There are a variety of ways to help.”