Board Member Reflections for REAL

Kelsey McNiff

The goals of REAL Lynn – providing access to books, strengthening children’s literacy, cultivating a love of learning, supporting families and teachers, and offering teaching and mentoring opportunities for aspiring educators – are in and of themselves reason to support this organization.  Yet my choice to join the board of REAL Lynn and my belief in the good that the program does comes from my own experiences as well.

First, snapshots: I remember myself as a little girl lying in a cocoon-like hammock at my grandparents’ house on a hot summer day, reading Dennis the Menace, loving the comfort of the story and the storybook neighborhood, the cool darkness of the shade, and the quiet around and inside of me.  And later, myself as sixth grader dreaming about becoming the youngest girl to ever publish a best-selling novel, writing a chapter book about a roller skating waitress from Texas (who also happened to be in the sixth grade).  As a child, my imagination was one of my favorite places to be, first reading stories and then writing them. 

This continues to be true today.  My love for reading and writing never stopped; in fact, it grew and informed my own career path.  I believe that literacy is a gateway to self-discovery.  As part of the Harvard College Writing Program faculty, I teach students that reading and writing are forms of communication as well as personal expression; as we engage the ideas of others, we develop and refine our own.  When REAL Lynn works to build literacy, its teachers give children tools to cultivate their interests, to nourish their imagination, and to build their confidence.  When we build literacy, then, in the words of REAL Lynn teacher and board member Betsy Brown, we teach children to ask not “whether” they can do something, but “how” they can do it.  

I also know first hand the value of service learning and the importance of mentor relationships, both of which REAL Lynn provides to its volunteers, be they students or experienced educators.   Whether volunteering to tutor elementary school children when I was in high school, organizing a women’s leadership conference for high school students when I was in college, or tutoring adult English language learners when I was a young professional, public service gave me a sense of pride in supporting others and contributing to my community; it also showed me the rewards of a career in education.  And a handful of passionate and engaged professional mentors – my faculty advisor in graduate school, veteran teaching colleagues, and talented museum educators – offered me guidance and expertise as I began to build my career.  These mentor relationships took many forms, but all of them began with me watching, asking questions and being given the opportunity to jump right in and teach.  I learned from trying and emulating, and I got better with reflection and practice and ambition.  REAL Lynn gives its volunteers the opportunity to benefit from similar experiences and to nourish their ongoing love of learning.

Thus I believe that REAL Lynn makes a difference in many people’s lives: the children, their families and their communities as well as the REAL Lynn volunteers and teachers.  And what a gift this is.