Literacy for All by Nicole

Literacy for All by Nicole - January 2018 Scholarship Essay

My desire to further my education is related to addressing the needs of the underserved populations in my community and, for me, that means I want to focus on literacy. I believe that the best way to serve the community is to give them the tools that they need to achieve their goals and those tools start with a strong foundation in literacy.
For now, I would use a Ph.D. in Literacy to benefit the service area of my community but I have larger goals in mind. Looking at my past work current work at a library, I want to take a more formal position with a statewide literacy initiative. This initiative is a movement which identifies five literacies that lead to individual success. I support this movement and ultimately, I would like to take a more formal role with this group and focus mainly on basic literacy. Combined with my library science degree and my work experience, I would be able to more effectively assess how libraries can expand on the foundation of literacy practices that are already a part of libraries’ missions. With a degree in literacy, I would have more authority and qualifications needed to make an impact on a statewide level.
As a child of immigrants, I understood the library’s potential in achieving educational goals because of its role in my parents’ education when they earned their GEDs. I partnered with a local non-profit to supplement their Adult Basic Literacy program. With a stronger formal background in literacy, I hope to expand my role in fostering literacy in my community and be ready for those responsibilities.
As stated earlier, I am a child of immigrants. While they hoped I would enter the medical profession, it was their fervent belief in the power of education that guided me to where I am today and contributed to my goals for the future. I believe that being a librarian and assisting people by giving them the tools they need to achieve their goals is my vocation and this leads me back to literacy.