CREATING A BRIGHTER FUTURE FOR FLORIDA’S YOUTH WITH LITERACY

Meet Daily Point of Light Award honoree Malika Harrison. Read her story, and nominate an outstanding volunteer or family as a Daily Point of Light.

A love of reading is deeply rooted in Malika Harrison’s upbringing.

Growing up in a household of educators, Malika always knew how important it was to read. But it also inspired her to pour that knowledge into the youth who are coming up today. Malika is a volunteer with the Orange County Public Schools as a tutor with Read2Succeed, a program for elementary school students who need extra assistance to develop their literacy skills.

For the last five years, Malika has dedicated weekly sessions to working with her “littles.” That’s what she calls the first and second-grade students she works with outside their normal classroom time to receive extra help when it comes to reading and vocabulary comprehension.

Malika reads aloud to the children, allowing them to chime in and read or share the meaning of certain words. She also catches up with the kids, asking them how their day has been, therefore fostering a strong connection. At the end of the session, children can take home a book. This allows them to build a home library so they can practice reading outside of the classroom and even share with siblings.

Malika’s positive influence on the students is clear. Tested before and after the school year, students have shown a 10 to 20% improvement in vocabulary and reading fluency. Teachers have even noticed an increased improvement in reading aptitude, as well as social and personal development. When they move on to higher grades, graduate and pursue a career, the littles will always have the gift of reading bestowed upon them by Malika.

As the school year kicks off yet again, Malika is ready to get back into action as a tutor. That means meeting a whole new group of littles to help improve their reading skills this year. The willingness of people like Malika to dedicate their time to volunteerism is one of the greatest gifts to put out into the world. Her work is an inspiration to everyone who aspires to create change in their community.

What inspired you to get started with this initiative?

Orange County is one of the largest school districts in the nation. When you think about the class sizes and the number of students that are in this school district and their various backgrounds, research has shown there is a gap in literacy. Having the opportunity to help a few young people develop their love for reading while also looking at what that produces later on down the line for our society, in terms of the workforce, the economy and for that person’s household, showed me how important it was to lend some volunteer time to tutor the students since their normal classroom time wouldn’t allow for that extra help when it comes to reading and vocabulary comprehension.

What inspires you to volunteer?

I’m inspired by not just the reward of giving my time and my energy, but also the beneficiaries. In this case, with the Read2Succeed program, the students love to read, and they love to have that extra help, because they are pronouncing words, looking at the pictures and studying their vocabulary. What really inspires me is the change and the optimism that I have, and that these young people also have when they pronounce the word correctly. It’s that opportunity to see change and evoke change, and also the long-term result of them loving reading now and learning at their grade level. That’s going to further help them develop as they go into middle school and high school. The future outcome is also what inspires me.

Tell us about your volunteer role with Read2Succeed.

It’s reading, but it’s also checking in with little ones to ask how school is going in general. I think that development from the classroom to extracurricular activities is really important. It starts by just checking in and seeing how they’re doing, and then we delve into some sight words, which are the prescribed vocabulary words from the Orange County Public School District. Then we have a selection of books that have already been pre-identified for the school year. I usually pull two or three books and ask the littles which one they want to read. I read aloud to the students, and they follow along. Then I may ask them questions so that I know they’re comprehending what I’m reading aloud to them.

Then there are some fun activities we might do. Once we finish reading the book, we have a journal where they’ll pick a vocabulary word and write a sentence or draw a picture with that word. The role that I play is enhancing and complementing what the teachers do in the classroom, but giving that extra level of fun.

What are your long-term plans or goals for the organization?

The school year just started, and I’m going to be volunteering again. My long-term goal is to continue to see reading levels elevated, and that literacy joy and spark more relevant and visible throughout the classroom. Long term, my goal is to continue to be a part of the joy of reading and learning, and I hope that over time, as they rise in their grade level and have younger siblings, they’re able to turn the tide and be able to read to the younger students in their class or their families.

What’s been the most rewarding part of your work?

I would say it takes me out of my day-to-day work, and it gives me that hour each week to pour back into the students. When we see a little who needs some extra help, whether it’s reading or math or what have you, or even behavioral, it’s rewarding for me to be able to pour into that and know that I’m making a change in one student. I do believe that students are sponges, and the other students in the class will be able to learn from that, and the joy of reading continues to spread. That is what illuminates the light in me in a good way. It’s a contagious effort when we spread the love and the joy of reading, and then the students can read to each other and help each other out within their classrooms.

What have you learned through your experiences as a volunteer?

I’ve learned patience. What I mean by that is it comes in different forms. It’s not just me giving the answers. It’s saying try again, or pronounce that word, or take your time and sound it out. While I’m not an educator myself, I’ve learned a lot of the techniques through mentoring and my family background, around having patience. You know these little they know the answer. They have a lot of potential, but it’s giving them that chance to dig deep, and together with me, for them to fulfill that potential that they already have within them.

Why is it important for others to get involved with causes they care about?

We live in a large world, but when we think about our community, that tends to be small. What I would say in encouraging others is that we can’t think about the world in the sense of doing everything and trying to change so much. But if we think about our communities, and what that looks like as it feeds into the world that we live in, it does make a difference. The littles I tutor in Orlando are going to go on to live in New York City or California, or somewhere outside the US. You never know where that one little change, or that day of service, or that hour of your time is going to take someone, and how it’s going to change the world on a larger scale, just from what you would consider a small piece of that puzzle.

What do you want people to learn from your story?

I have a very soft spot for youth, and so I think what I would say is that there are so many important causes within our communities. But I would want people to learn that while we want to do everything, we can’t. Find that cause or a few causes that you know you could commit to, because volunteering is something that we want to enjoy. It’s something that we do, where our purpose and passion meet in the middle, and find that opportunity. Your community needs change, and you see a way to be a part of that change, and then you just go forward. By the time you look back, you realize you’ve been volunteering with this organization for almost a year, and then three years and five years.

Do you want to make a difference in your community like Malika? Find local volunteer opportunities.