November 28, 2022 Selena's Roadmap Goals Reading, School Success, and Tutoring In 2018, Selena started working with her Friend, Jenny, just before the end of first grade. At the time, she was enrolled in a dual-language program learning Spanish and English concurrently. Today, Selena is in sixth grade and enjoying middle school. This year, Sylvan Learning assessed her reading and math skills to be at a second-grade level. School success and literacy have been ongoing priorities during Jenny and Selena’s time together. While participating in the dual-language program, Selena tried her best to keep up with the rest of the class but faced many challenges. Jenny’s ability to support Selena in the classroom helped her realize that Selena was struggling with transitioning between the two alphabets. At home, Selena’s parents also had concerns about their daughter’s learning environment. These are a few factors that delayed Selena’s ability to start learning effectively but with the transition to an English-only classroom in fourth grade, she has been thriving. Selena shares that she has language arts reading groups at school and her teacher has encouraged the use of reading logs at home. While her teacher proposed reading in shorter increments of ten or twenty minutes, Selena enjoys reading for longer, twenty-five-minute stretches with her mom and older sister. At home, they have a selection of books to read and the FriendsPDX library keeps Selena stocked with stories. In the coming year, Jenny and Selena to frequent the public library even more as it’s a wonderful, local resource and has more of The Princess in Black and Kitty in the Moonlight Rescue adventure books that Selena loves. Weekly tutoring sessions have been a large part of Selena’s supplemental learning and academic success. Currently, Jenny ensures Selena makes it to her Sylvan Learning lessons, but before the pandemic, Selena worked with a volunteer tutor who offered support at our Rockwood facility. During the pandemic, Jenny and Selena did a lot of virtual reading together. These additional layers of assistance created a positive foundation for Selena while also helping her achieve steady progress. Selena has chosen consistent Roadmap Goals surrounding literacy success throughout the past four years. It’s clear she’s dedicated to reading and learning despite the obstacles that she’s faced along the way and is willing to ask her Friend for support. Concrete, youth-led goals empower youth to take control of their own narratives. FriendsPDX is committed to putting kids first and we humbly ask you to stand alongside us in carrying out this mission for decades to come. Please consider making a gift today. Providing youth with long-term, intentional, and individual mentorship does not happen without the support of our community. Please consider giving to FriendsPDX today! Make a donation now *names of youth and mentor have been changed for privacy and photos are not of those mentioned in story