Volunteer classroom reader “Miss Emily” is in perfect, animated voice. Mrs. Marika Nieratko’s second-grade class at Rolando Park Elementary School sits mesmerized while Emily Mason reads Love Me Gently. The children’s book is about the learning curve of raising a new puppy.
Mason, 40, runs her own consultancy in the pharma/medical-tech industry. She’s dressed in jeans and wearing a blue blazer over her “Words Alive” t-shirt. The East Village resident has a flair for public speaking that was honed in local standup comedy and improv shows. She’s volunteered with Words Alive for three years.
The nonprofit, which focuses on childhood literacy, is celebrating its 25th anniversary. Words Alive recently moved from Pacific Beach into a downtown San Diego facility on Park Boulevard.
Miss Emily visits Rolando Park Elementary once a week. You can feel a palpable bond between reader and young listeners. She’s achieved semi-rockstar status. Maybe not in the Taylor Swift or Beyonce strata. More like Olivia Rodrigo or Dua Lipa fame level.
The students are sitting on a colorful, alphabet-themed rug on the floor. Vestiges of restless energy have melted away. The second-graders appear enthralled by this story about a puppy named Cooper.
Miss Emily stops reading and asks a related question: “Should you stay away from a puppy while he’s eating?”
“Yes!” reply 19 eight-year-olds in unison.
“What would you do if somebody took your food while you were eating breakfast?” Miss Emily asks.
A pause.
“I’d go crazy,” a youngster in the back declares.
Heads nod in agreement, and now developing minds are set in motion.
“Do puppies have brains?” wonders a dark-haired boy.
“Whatever you do, don’t feed a dog chocolate,” a girl in the front row says knowingly.
“Yes…and that’s right,” Miss Emily acknowledges. A thin smile forms on her lips before she turns the page to resume reading.
I’m sitting in on four of Miss Emily’s Love Me Gently readings. Two first-grade and two second-grade teachers here at Rolando Park Elementary coordinate their schedules so their Read Aloud headliner can do a guest appearance in each of their classes during a two-hour morning block.
With just two weeks left in the 2023-24 school year, it’s Miss Emily’s last reading day. As a parting gift, Words Alive is donating a copy of Love Me Gently to each child.
Miss Emily carries boxes of the book from room to room. For anyone else who’s forgotten, elementary school classroom decor is pure maximalism. Each room is a splashy exhibition of graphic elements. Walls are covered with a rainbow of colorful lists: months of the year, the alphabet, antonyms; and of course, a plethora of student-generated artwork. There’s no “less is more” in grade school classroom interior design.
In this setting, first-grade teacher Yazmin Holton tells me Miss Emily has a “magical connection,” with her kids.
“Emily and Words Alive help us form good reading patterns,” Holton says. “When a book is read aloud kids can transfer their own experiences to the story, like today–what it’s like to have a dog.”
Another first-grade teacher, Shelby Kubisz, says later in the day the kids will all take Love Me Gently back out and she’ll reread it while they follow along on their copy. It’s one more way to reinforce good reading patterns.
All four teachers visited by Miss Emily know it’s an uphill battle to establish those good reading patterns before third grade. That’s when kids tend to move forward or fall behind.
Words Alive was founded in 1999. During its last fiscal year, the nonprofit gave out 30,000 books and served 5,000 local students through a variety of outreach programs, all related to youth literacy.
The organization teed off some national attention in 2023. Words Alive was named the Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) Tour National Charity of the Year. There are 36 stops on the PGA Tour. Each city nominates a local charitable organization. Along with winning the top spot, Words Alive was awarded a $30,000 prize.
“We’re leveraging that national recognition for more funding opportunities,” says Words Alive Program Director Melinda Cooper (no relation to the puppy in Love Me Gently).
Cooper is also an engaging and charismatic speaker. On the day we meet at Words Alive’s downtown warehouse/headquarters she’s wearing a vivacious and playful assortment of colors…like a second-grade school room. Later today she’ll head out to read to a classroom of kids. Cooper tells me she owns a dress decorated with dinosaurs and another with butterflies–for when she’s reading about those topics to kids. There’s also a Pikachu purse in her wardrobe.
A collaborative-style leader, Cooper has been a project manager for a corporate trainer and has a history in local nonprofits, including ARTS (A Reason To Survive) in National City and The Old Globe in Balboa Park.
She was born in Appalachia. East Tennessee. The Great Smoky Mountains. As Cooper calls it, “Dolly Parton country.”
Her childhood and background forged her into someone who’s passionate about access to literature and the arts. She sometimes felt isolated as a child–but any access to culture made her feel…alive.
“Well, I’m a huge book nerd,” Cooper says. “My degree from the University of Virginia is actually in drama. My background is in performance. My expertise is Shakespeare.”
When she transitioned out of stage work, she used her thespian skills to co-produce the International Shakespeare In Prisons Conference for five years.
“Working with populations who are systemically disinvested or harmed is something I’m passionate about,” she says. “It comes from my background growing up in an impoverished region without much access to high-quality enrichment.”
Enrichment creates pathways for equity and justice for communities, she believes.
“We know that folks who don’t learn how to be strong readers can become teenagers and adults more likely to suffer poverty, be impacted by mass incarceration and any number of troubling life factors,” Cooper says.
Including homelessness and food insecurity. Illiteracy feeds poverty, and vice versa, she says.
Cooper quotes ex-slave-turned-prominent-activist Frederick Douglass: “Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.”
To make people want to learn reading skills, she’s sure that making it fun is a powerful incentive.
Some incentive is most definitely called for. According to the Urban Institute’s National Assessment of Educational Progress, two-thirds of U.S. children are unable to read with proficiency; 40 percent are essentially nonreaders.
Cooper says in San Diego half of all kids can’t read on grade level by the end of third grade. That jumps up to two-thirds in black and brown communities.
Those statistics are why Words Alive sends roughly 300 empathetic and fun volunteers like Miss Emily out into more than 100 classrooms (there’s also a stable of virtual volunteers).
In addition to the Read Aloud Program, Words Alive has an Adolescent Book Group initiative for grades five through 12. And a Family Literacy Program for children under the age of five.
“The Book Club is our oldest program, Read Aloud is the biggest and Family Literacy is the fastest-growing,” Cooper says. “If we’re going to make a dent in poverty, we need kids to be able to read and think critically,” she says. “We need folks in disinvested communities to be able to advocate for themselves.”
Cooper bemoans the fact that Words Alive can’t fix every problem.
“But what we can do is spend a little bit of time showing up for people,” she says. “If you show kids you have a love for reading it becomes infectious.”
Words Alive is currently surveying kids in their programs. One survey question asks if they they have a favorite book. The reasoning behind the query: If a child has a favorite, that should spark interest in more reading material.
Anecdotal responses from kids at Rolando Park Elementary show Dragons Love Tacos is a hit. Weighing in, Miss Emily says her favorite book from class this year was The Day The Crayons Quit.
“You know, I started doing this for the kids,” she muses. “But they really fill a room with love and make you feel special. It’s almost like I’m doing this for me, now.”
For more information on volunteering or donating, go to: Words Alive. SDSun
