Volunteer Spotlight

 

Understanding the Struggle of English Language Learners

Ruby Martinez Zgabay: IBM Electrical Engineer, Political Refugee from Cuba and Classroom Coach

In March of 1999, 16-year-old Ruby Zgabay stepped foot on the campus of Reagan High, terrified and unable to speak any English. Ruby and her parents had just made an arduous journey from Cuba as political refugees seeking asylum in Austin.

Today Ruby, an electrical engineer with IBM and APIE Classroom Coach, looks across the small school desks at the struggling faces of young English language learners, and remembers her youth. “My mother always spoke her mind. Everyone loved her. She had her degree from University of Havana in Cuba and my father was a chemist. Everyone I knew in my family had education – they had all been to college,” she recalls. “My mother studied English Literature in college and could speak English – which is never spoken on the streets in Cuba  – she worked in the diplomatic sector for embassies – first Nigeria, then Cuba, then the equivalent of a U.S. Embassy –the Section of Interest they call it, because there is not an official U.S. Embassy in Cuba.”

Ruby recalls that in order for her mother to work for a diplomatic agency both that agency and the Cuban government had to agree. At first Ruby’s mother had the necessary approvals for employment. Over time, her mother’s attempts to remain silent against the communist regime failed, and Ruby’s parents dissented publicly. Though the ‘embassy’ begged to keep her, the Cuban government insisted Ruby’s mother be fired.

Ruby was shielded from much of the government’s backlash, in part because she was away at government-mandated boarding school.  “When children are in 9th grade they move away to live at the government school so their parents can’t influence them,” she recalls. “We’d get a weekend off every few weeks.“  In hindsight Ruby realizes she received a valuable education alongside a large dose of communist indoctrination.  She studied computer language and coding, though she had never seen a computer. “There was no technology available to us in Cuba,” she says. “You never see a computer in a house or school. I did my work with pencil and a legal pad.”

One day Ruby received quiet, brief instructions from her mother to get a passport picture. The next thing she knew the family was speaking nervously to staff at the Section of Interest, reviewing files of possible relocation cities. “It all looked the same in the files,” she remembers. “But, we chose well. I can’t imagine living any place better than Austin.”

Opportunities at new lives do not immediately spring from repression to joy. When seeking asylum one leaves without words and takes nothing. “You don’t get to say goodbye to family, grandparents, cousins, and friends. You just disappear one night,” Ruby explains. “The secrecy is very hard, but if you tell, word leaks out and you will be jailed or worse. After we left we viewed the government file about us and saw all the information neighbors and friends had given the government. It was heartbreaking. We wrote hundreds of letters to loved ones letting them know we made it, hoping one might accidentally get through. Every letter from the U.S. is intercepted and read. Few are ever delivered.”

Meanwhile the family settled into their first weeks with Caritas providing simple food and shelter in a strange new world. And for Ruby, the real journey began. “I had to learn English, and quickly,” she remembers. “My library card is still the most valuable card in my wallet.” After a few months at Reagan she transferred to Lanier High where the principal agreed she had the education to place out of high school and asked her for her plans. She said she wanted to attend UT Austin.  He advised her to enroll for a few years at the high school -  first to learn English and to acquire an official GPA. “It was a struggle,” says Ruby. “At first I refused to speak English. Then my mother banned all Spanish language radio, TV or books. I could only have friends who would speak English. I began to learn.” Being an intelligent, quick study she also picked up language skills at the HEB grocery where she bagged groceries to help with family bills. She listened intently to customer conversations and began mastering phrases, though the U.S. propensity for brand names caused considerable confusion and anxiety.  Before long she asked to be promoted to cashier, and then left to work for JCPenney in catalog sales providing interpretation services for calls from around the world. In the meantime she studied very hard and created the strong GPA she would need for application to UT.

She recalls attending a high school session with UT students from the School of Engineering. Each gave a brief presentation about their field – and after a few presentations Ruby found her calling. “A student talked about electrical engineering, and I knew that was it. That was what I wanted to do.” In Cuba, college was free. Here in the U.S., her parents had no money to offer.  After school let out each day she would wait in the career and counseling office until 5 for her parents to pick her up in the family’s one car. She made allies by helping in the office where staff began suggesting Ruby think about scholarships. “My senior year I must have filed for every scholarship there was! The last few months we went from one award dinner to another as the scholarships were granted.”

Accepted to UT, she found the scope and size of the campus daunting. She realized to take full advantage of all the resources, especially the computer labs, she needed to swallow her fear and make the move to live on campus. So Ruby moved into a dorm and began to embrace technology, and eventually the full culture of university life.

Today she speaks as if she’s lived in Austin all her life, talking about her teammates at IBM and the work they are doing on the testing, verification, and characterization of CPUs and servers.  And three days a week she helps children in 2nd grade reading, 6th grade reading, and 8th grade math as a Classroom Coach.

What advice does she have for students struggling to learn English and succeed in school? “I would tell them you have to keep trying. Sometimes in life it’s hard to see why you are doing certain things, but it will make sense later. I didn’t know why I was learning English. I didn’t want to - I wanted people to learn my language. Sometimes you can’t see the end goal - you just know you have to do it to be better. To be the best you can be, you have to push yourself. If you can’t do it for yourself, then do it for someone else. When I couldn’t do it for me I did it for my parents. I wanted to make them proud after they risked so much for me. I did it for my mother. She is so much more than I could ever be – so I tried to be my best for her. You just have to try hard – it’s the only way to find your own strengths.”

- Ruby is one of more than 80 employees from IBM who volunteer weekly in our Classroom Coaching program.

 

Ladonna Eisenbaum – 2nd Grade Reading Classroom Coach, Author, and Advocate for People with Intellectual Disabilities

 
After almost a decade working with people with dementia and their families, Ladonna Eisenbaum decided to try something on the other end of the service spectrum. “I wanted to go from end-of-life service to something closer to the beginning. That’s when I started volunteering as a Classroom Coach,” she recalls.  "If you teach children to read it benefits them not only in school, but through their entire lives."  A second-year Reading Coach, Ladonna describes herself as a retired stay-at-home mom.  “I would definitely recommend coaching to retirees. Volunteering is an inexpensive outlet for your creativity and a great way to be productive.”  
 
Not that it's always easy.  The first group of second graders Ladonna was assigned were a bit challenging. Ladonna joined them in January after a previous coach completed the fall semester. She laughs as she tells of her early meetings with her group. “I suppose you could describe two of the three as a bit contentious.  I can see that they might have scared someone off.”  But not Ladonna. “One of the girls said, “I liked my other coach better.  When is she coming back?” Ladonna smiles frequently, and did so then as she told the girl, “I'll be back next week.”  By the end of the spring semester, the two had bonded and the student wrote a note saying, "Miss Ladonna likes us when we work hard."
 
Ladonna is also a writer.  “The Arc of Northern Virginia wanted to publish a children's biography of Jill Eglé, a woman with an intellectual disability who helped change federal law, banning the use of the word retarded,” says Ladonna. In writing the book, Ladonna got to know Jill and was overwhelmed by her compassion and courage.  Jill, who was the Co-Executive Director of the Arc of Northern Virginia, was bullied relentlessly yet always treated others with kindness and respect. “She’s an incredible speaker and advocate for people with intellectual disabilities.” The book has just been published as Jill’s Journey, A Victory Over the R Word. 
 
In addition to her Classroom Coaching and membership in the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, Ladonna’s roots in education go deep.  She had a career working with people with intellectually disabilities as a special education teacher. “My freshman year of college I was doing a lot of soul searching, exploring subjects like Spanish and Chemistry…trying to find my heart’s path.  That summer I got a job at Pier I, only to be fired a week later.  That's how I ended up first volunteering, and then working at Abilene State School.”  Ladonna had found her calling and went on to complete a teaching degree at UT, building a career in special education and counseling.
To learn more about Ladonna’s work see her webpage.
 
To learn more about Jill Eglé’s work and order Jill's Journey see Jill's site.


 
 
 
Non dvcor, dvco, : I am not led, I lead. - Motto for the city of São Paulo, Brazil
 
True to the motto of his birthplace, Austin professor and software designer Ricardo Mastroleo leads. Volunteering every week for six years as a Classroom Coach in Austin Partners in Education Math program, Ricardo strives to help students build confidence and understand that they can do the math – if they take the right path. “That is the most rewarding and most important thing we can do,” explains the physicist who admits a passion for education. “We can’t supply everything these students need academically in the time we have. We can help. But what really matters is that we help students understand they can succeed,” says Ricardo. “They sometimes think they are dumb or stupid and will never understand. Once we show them they CAN do it, if they do it the right way, they grasp the concepts. We can build their self esteem and confidence in addition to improving test scores,” he says.
 ricardo and his son at a game in barcelona
Ricardo (pictured at left with his son Gustavo at the soccer stadium in Barcelona)  is not a stranger to the classroom. He teaches physics courses at ACC in addition to his job as a software engineer. “I try to instill in my college students the same point – don’t get caught up in stigmas that only a select group of people can do this, whether it’s math or physics. Anybody can do it.” Ricardo champions one-on-one interaction, both in coaching and in college, and offers extended office hours and Saturday sessions to his students. He employs the same small group learning model used in Classroom Coaching with his students. “I guide them. In the small groups I can see where they are lacking in their logic or understanding, and I can help them move from a path that leads to the wrong outcomes to a path that leads to the right ones.” Ricardo says his approach works in 8th grade math as well as in college physics. “It’s easiest to help the student when you can see them trying to solve the problem.” He adds that students in small groups tend to be more willing to ask questions.
 
Ricardo had the benefit of a strong education growing up in the world’s 7th largest city. His parents were advocates for a good education and sent him to a renowned Catholic school in São Paulo. “My parents did everything they could to ensure I would get the highest quality education, and it opened doors for me,” he says. From high school he was accepted to the University of São Paulo, where he earned a bachelor’s and master’s in physics.
 
A new research institute had opened in the city of São Jose dos Campos (50 miles northeast of São Paulo) and they were investing heavily in people to build a strong research group. They offered Ricardo an opportunity to do research abroad and offered to pay for his Ph.D. program. He spoke with his previous advisor who had just returned from a trip to Austin, Texas and recommended the University of Texas to Ricardo. He applied and was accepted to UT Austin. He and his wife quickly grew to love Austin. He found Austin to be charming, green, culturally diverse, progressive and although small (in comparison to Brazil’s largest city), still vibrant and cosmopolitan. 
 
He also found it was a city that gives back to the community. “This caught my attention,” he recalls. “When I came here I noticed that so many people volunteered in the community. I liked that.” But after completing his doctoral work he was under contract to return to Sao Paulo to work in the Institute for Advanced Studies as part of the study abroad contract. He and his wife returned to Brazil, but were sold on Austin, and after a few years returned here to stay.
 
His wife went on to earn her master’s at UT Austin and Ricardo had a chance to become a community volunteer. “I wasn’t used to this community volunteerism in Sao Paulo,” he says. “I thought it was a great idea. I thought I should do it -- especially in the area of education. I love to teach, I believe in education, and there is always a need for volunteer workers in education. I believe we need to go beyond the standard services that are provided, and each of us needs to do our part as well.” He signed up with Austin Partners in Education for the launch of the small group learning model used in Classroom Coaching, and has been helping students every week of the school year for the last six years.
 
“Like I hear other volunteers saying, I had to change the way I was thinking. I am not ever going to know the full impact I have on a specific individual over time. I am not going to come in and create a classroom of math experts in an hour a week. It takes more time than that. But, as volunteers, we can boost confidence, we can boost skills, and we can build understanding of how to solve the problems,” he says. “We can identify what the students do know, and figure out where we lost them, so we can bring them up to speed.” Ricardo finds it effective to have students open up by dealing with the concepts they understand, creating a less stressful and more rewarding environment where they can demonstrate what they know. From there, he can introduce new concepts.
 
Ricardo says he tries to make it very clear to students who are lost that the reason they didn’t understand a specific topic was because they didn’t understand a very specific concept. He leads them to understand that concept, and then the next step is achievable. “This keeps the students from that perverse thought that they aren’t smart enough. I show them they can do it – if they take the right approach.”
 
Ricardo credits some very good teachers he had that modeled how to teach in this manner. He says, “Sometimes, it’s not as much about the specific knowledge you are trying to convey as it is about how you reach the student. That’s the tricky part. You have to figure out how to get into their brain and see how they’re thinking, then take them from there to where they need to be. This is where the main challenge of teaching resides.”
 
When he’s not coaching, teaching or designing software Ricardo enjoys rowing (he is a ten-year member of the Texas Rowing Center), cheering for the São Paulo Futebol Club, and enjoying good food with his family and friends. He also volunteers with Austin Travis County Integral Care as a mentor for adults with developmental disabilities.
 
 
Joe Perkins - Step-Up Volunteer 
 
Speaking with Joe Perkins about his life, images of the Bat Phone keep coming to mind. One service experience after another all started with “someone called and asked if I could help….” He says he gets it from his mother who found herself in an orthopedic hospital as a young girl. Though financially poor, she was rich in determination and resilience. Adopted by a doctor, she went on to become a nurse at Johns Hopkins. She instilled in her son the heart of service and the importance of giving back.
(Pictured are Joe Perkins and his wife Ginger, from a vacation in New Zealand. Both Joe and Ginger volunteer with Austin Partners in Education.)
The military called. Joe answered, and for 20 years served multiple tours including Viet Nam, Germany, Honduras, and here in the states. Now a retired Army Colonel, Joe flew helicopters in Nam.
Back stateside and civilian, Joe found a different way to serve and began a career in education.   While teaching in Baltimore he married the love of his life – the school secretary Virginia ‘Ginger’ Perkins. “I had met her when I was 13 and was madly in love by 14. It took her a little longer,” he laughs. Together, the two are deeply invested in education and helping children in the community where they live.
A few years after marrying, Joe and Ginger adopted a son Jake. “We had Jake about three years and the agency called and asked if we would adopt another child, one with special needs who had been injured during delivery,” Joe says. They said yes, and began the hard work of raising a child with brain injuries.
While he was teaching Joe began to notice a real disparity in his students’ mental and verbal acuity, and their ability to draw conclusions, reason out problems, and organize their thoughts on paper. “I had kids who were learning more than anyone else in class and could argue a case or speak on a topic brilliantly,” he says, “but were being thrown out by the system because of reading and writing challenges.”
A colleague called and asked Joe if he’d be interested in teaching children with dyslexia. He said yes, and joined the team at Jemicy School in Maryland. The experience was positive for Joe as he learned innovative ways to work with children with dyslexia and related language-based learning differences. “Our science teacher taught kids aerodynamics by having kids build planes and hovercraft,” he explains. They initially taught some classes without books to present concrete real-life examples students could later transfer to the concepts being conveyed in texts. “Our philosophical goal was to make learning a positive experience for the kids and help them build self esteem beyond report card measurements. Now some 30 – 40 years later, our graduates are successful lawyers, bankers, realtors… I ran into one guy running a helicopter unit in Houston,” he says.
Speaking of Houston…Joe got another call. This time Joe was being asked if he’d come to Austin to open a clone of the Jemicy School. He said yes. He and Ginger moved to Austin 13 years ago and Joe helped open Rawson Saunders, applying some of the same models employed successfully at Jemicy.
A few years ago, Joe officially retired though he still can be found tutoring a few neighborhood kids every week in Math. “It’s a word of mouth thing,” he explains.” One parent or child tells another, they call and ask if I can help.”
One evening he and Ginger were watching TV when a commercial for Austin Partners in Education came on asking for volunteer Classroom Coaches. He and Ginger looked at each other, and said yes. Ginger coaches second grade Reading at Wooten Elementary and Joe works with our more intensive intervention program - Step-Up. The program employs high frequency tutoring with early evaluation of students, followed by instruction based on repeated assessments to measure progress. Students in this program receive volunteer support four times a week. Joe helps the program three days a week.
“Joe is one of those guys who really wants to be there for the students, and the difference in the boy Joe is working with is evident,” says Sandy Bootz, Step-Up program director. Joe explains, “This child was speaking in a barely audible whisper and wouldn’t make eye contact if he was interacting at all. He would hit a word he didn’t know and instead of using word attack, he would just completely shut down. So, we set some goals together, and I tried to start by building trust. If you embarrass a middle-schooler, you become their mortal enemy,” he says, with humor and wisdom.
 “The program is based on first establishing sound – symbol relationships,” Joe explains. “Each chapter has a series of diagraphs kids are introduced to. Then we combine those with words they can pronounce. Initially it is really word attack but as you move on you can build in comprehension. I’m really focused on helping them build comprehension.” Program director Sandy Bootz says the benefits are documented not only in the assessments where she sees students progress, but also in social-emotional ways. “You only have to walk in the room and see the difference in the child Joe is working with. He used to not interact and now, he’s looking at Joe, he’s doing the work – in two months he’s increased his reading one grade level.”
“Ginger and I both love kids,” Joe says. “I love teaching, and I’d miss it if I weren’t involved.” Not being involved isn’t likely to happen. When he’s not volunteering in Step-Up, or tutoring neighborhood kids, he’s coaching a middle school lacrosse team several days a week.
Asked how this interest in teaching and coaching began Joe goes back to his service in Germany. “My tank gunner was a guy named Slick Malarsky,” he recalls. “Slick was a smart guy – real responsible and did great work, until it came time for the inventory reports.”  A tank has a lot of parts and the paperwork was complex. It would concern and frustrate Joe that Slick would disappear when the paperwork was due. Joe pondered the scenario and finally came to the conclusion that Slick had somehow managed to hide the fact he couldn’t read when enlisting. “He had a proficiency exam coming up as part of a promotion, so I went to him and asked,” Joe says.  Sure enough, his theory proved true. “I started tutoring him every night. I didn’t really have any training in it but somehow, come test time, Slick passed. That’s what started all this – that’s when I knew I wanted to help people learn.”
Joe says he’s happy being involved with the community’s schools as long as his “bride” Miss Virginia is at his side, adding “She’s the one with the real insight. She’s the one who really understands relationships and so forth. I’m just the husband,” he laughs.
When he’s not helping local kids you can find Joe running two miles a day on the Barton greenbelt with his two dogs – both adopted Town Lake alumni.
Thanks for serving Joe.
 
 
We also wish to express our profound thanks to Ginger for volunteering in our Classroom Coaching program. We're highlighting Step-Up with Joe's interview, but we're really grateful for Ginger's contribution to our classrooms as well.
 
Sometimes history makes a full circle. It did at Zavala Elementary. When Mrs. Jeanne Colvin first met Gilbert Cantu, the struggling fourth grader had taken second grade twice and was still challenged by language arts. He was, like all children then, forbidden from speaking Spanish in school. Though his family lived in Austin, they would travel to West Texas each summer to pick cotton. Twice the harvest season ran long and Gilbert could not return to school until December. Mrs. Colvin took a special interest in him, providing him the support kids grow up to remember as pivotal to their future success. That was in the late 1940’s.
Imagine the moment when some 30 years later, Gilbert Cantu bumped into Mrs. Colvin back in the halls of Zavala Elementary and was able to introduce himself to her as the new school principal.  
“Seeing her in the hallway that day was almost a religious experience,” recalls Gilbert. Though the two had lost touch over the years with Gilbert going to college and joining the military, he never forgot the influence she had on him. As Mrs. Colvin grew older and entered a nursing home, it was Gilbert Cantu who came to visit her. When she passed away, it was her struggling fourth grade student, now grown into a successful school administrator, who served as pallbearer at her funeral.
It’s said that education transforms lives. Teachers and mentors often lead that transformative process, with the impact lasting in recipient’s hearts and minds for a lifetime. Gilbert grew up to see his role as passing on the gift Mrs. Colvin gave him. He developed a commitment to “changing people’s lives for the better,” he says.  This can be seen by his years teaching at Metz Elementary, Govalle Elementary, and Williams Elementary schools, as well as in his tenure as principal at Ridgetop, Zavala, and Zilker Elementary Schools. His roots in Austin run deep with large family ties that go back several generations.  Though he retired from education in 1992, Gilbert is still making a difference as a mentor. This year he is mentoring at Zilker. Last year he mentored at Zavala and at Eastside Memorial (formerly Johnston High School.)
“It’s a special feeling to be sitting with a child in the lunchroom and realize I sat in the exact spot they are sitting in when I was their age,” he says.
Now 73-years-old, he and his wife Mary are enjoying retirement with four grandkids ranging from 5 – 17-years-old. “I started mentoring after retirement,” he explains, “because I missed being around schools. I know how difficult it is for some kids.”  Reflecting on his own personal challenges in elementary and middle school, he says “Sure, I see myself in them, and that’s why I want to help. It’s an awesome experience. Several of the teachers recognize me and come up and hug me, asking how things are. I’m glad to be there helping.”
He has asked friends to join him. “I tell my friends that they should think about getting involved in local schools. For whatever reason, there are students who aren’t getting the support they need at home. They need a caring adult who can give them friendship and guidance,” he says.
A former mentee graduated high school the year before last, a meaningful and memorable moment for Gilbert. “His family was from Mexico and I would describe to him the many opportunities available in the U.S.  I’d talk about what a great country this is, and helped him understand our infrastructure and economy. We’d talk about the importance of setting goals. There were moments when it was crystal clear that this student really understood what I was trying to convey, and that’s always a great feeling,” he says.
Recently Gilbert asked his young mentee “What did I teach you this month?”
The student instantly replied, “Oh I told my younger sister what you taught me. I told her she needed to do her homework and turn it in!” his mentee said.
Gilbert says it especially gratifying when he senses that his mentee understands and realizes that in our personal lives, even with hardships, we are still accountable for our behavior and success - a lesson Mrs. Colvin helped him understand.
(Pictured below: Gilbert Cantu as Principal congratulating Mrs. Colvin - Teacher of the Year Nominee, 1977.)

 

Bruce MacKenzie - College Readiness Volunteer of the Year

Bruce MacKenzie is retired, but he's not sitting on the porch. On November 9th, MacKenzie was at the Irwin Center accepting the College Readiness Volunteer of the Year award from the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce. Later that week, he and his band-mate (pictured below: Bruce MacKenzie on left and band mate Paul Grubb on right) were playing a gig at the Hill Country Galleria. In between, Bruce went from coaching 8th grade Math at one school to coaching College Readiness at another, and volunteering with other organizations across Austin.

Bruce and his wife came to Austin in 1994 after a job transfer from upstate New York. Their two daughters were grown but Bruce still felt a need to contribute within the local schools and community. He began volunteering. In the Fall of 2008 he discovered Classroom Coaching with Austin Partners in Education.

It was a unique scenario. “We had a group of smart boys at Kealing Middle School who had collectively just fallen off the edge; not focusing and not performing well in school,” he recalls. “They were grouped into one math class and the school brought in a very strict male teacher. All of the coaches assigned to the class were males,” he explained. Initially the kids were a handful, but the small group interaction quickly built bonds as the kids opened up, and began doing the math. Coaches talked about education, life choices, the importance of eating breakfast, role models…and over the course of the year coached on far more than just algebraic equations.

“When we started none of these kids passed the TAKS. At the end of the year every single one of the boys in that class passed,” says MacKenzie. “That’s when I said ‘hey wait a minute….I think something may have just happened here,” says Bruce.  “You hope you’ll make a difference. That’s when we knew we did.” He said the team of coaches also became very close, with a camaraderie that provided a strong support system throughout the year.

“It was an incredibly positive experience for all of us involved,” he says. “I believe in the program. Eighth grade math is a turning point. That’s when the gang influence really comes on and that’s when the kids have big dips in motivation. How could you NOT give an hour to these kids for something like this?”

Last year’s results were more subtle, but meaningful in their own right. MacKenzie was coaching 8th grade Math. “There was a kid in my group named Robert (name has been changed) who had given up,” he says. The boy was in a wheelchair from a car accident in kindergarten that left him paralyzed. “He was smart, but he was also really open about not wanting to try,” he says. “ Robert would tell me he was lazy and just didn’t care. “MacKenzie worked with Robert, and little by little, was able to explain the value of education in providing future life choices. “I saw he was really great at drawing. I’d tell him he could be a lot of things – comic book illustrator, graphic designer, artist, or architect,” he says. “I told him I couldn’t imagine what it was like to be in the wheel chair, but I did know there were famous people who had somehow been able to transcend that limitation. I didn’t know how they did it, but they did.” He listed Stephen Hawkins and other examples.

MacKenzie told Robert what he tells all the kids he coaches. “Education gives you choices. It doesn’t guarantee you this or that, but if you do well you’ll get more choices. If you do well in high school you’ll get choices about going to college. If you do well in college, you get choices about careers and where you get to live.”

Over the course of the year the message sunk in, Robert opened up, and applied himself. “On the last day he told me it was too bad that was the last session and I wouldn’t be able to see how he does from there. He showed hope in the future. “

This year MacKenzie is coaching College Readiness as well, working with seniors who have made a high enough grade on the TAKS test to be graduation ready, but not high enough to meet the state standards for College Readiness. Students in this ‘gap’ may be admitted to college, but find they have to take developmental/ remedial courses which do not count toward transcript credit. In addition to being costly, taking remedial courses in college is a leading predictor of dropout risk. MacKenzie is helping students prepare to score well enough on college entrance exams so they can begin with freshman level courses.

MacKenzie says he does his best to get the kids, regardless of what he’s coaching, to understand education gives them choices, and he just hopes the message sticks with them.

And speaking of choices, it’s MacKenzie’s turn to make some, so he’s following his bliss. “I’ve been playing guitar since the Beatles were on Ed Sullivan,” he laughs. Now retired, he gets to devote time and energy to music. He advertised for a band mate and found someone with similar taste and goals. They started practicing and soon had a gig in a local coffee shop. Then they played a block party or two, and are now gigging around Austin as the band Double Bogie. (Pictured above with Bruce on the left and band mate Paul Grubb on right.) Sometimes fellow volunteers see him on stage and express surprise at his alter ego. That always gets a smile out of Bruce.
His advice for people considering Classroom Coaching? “Just jump in. Seriously. Just do this,” he says. “I work with a lot of organizations and I haven’t found any that are as supportive and organized as APIE. They make the volunteer experience wonderful – always improving, always listening. Just try it.”

 

Andrew Holle and IBM

8th Grade Math Classroom Coaching Team
 

Andrew Holle has realistic expectations about his work in Burnet Middle School as a volunteer Classroom Coach. He doesn’t expect to see a miraculous turn around, or arrive to find the class tearfully singing a song in his honor as movies and TV shows may predict. His world is not Hollywood, it is Austin.

Holle is one of 13 IBM employees volunteering as Classroom Coaches with Austin Partners in Education this year. He cautions would-be volunteers to not expect to see profound change overnight. But there were a series of smaller, quiet victories that kept him going to weekly sessions, signing up for another year, and recruiting a dozen coworkers to join him.
photo of the IBM volunteer Classroom Coaches
Andrew Holle (back row, left) and his coworkers from IBM in front of the mural at Burnet Middle School where the team coaches 8th grade Math every week. The team includes: Adrian Barrera, Adriana Kobylak, Andrew Holle, Brad Herold, Bryan Hickerson (not in picture), Catie Shery, Christy Feng, Hal Chase, Howard Bishop, Inaqui Delgado (not in picture), Jarom Pena, Nhan Morello, and Ruby Zgabay.
 
“In the beginning of last year my group of four boys and I could work through two math problems in a session. By the end of the year we were up to four problems a session. That’s progress,” says Holle.
 “I go into this volunteer experience realizing I may not ever know the exact impact I had on these kids. You just do it because it’s the right thing to do,” says Holle.
Andrew Holle knows something about volunteering and the right thing to do. Prior to his current employment with IBM as an engineer, he and his wife lived in Western Europe for ten years while he worked for Philips Electronics. They found themselves spending considerable amounts of time volunteering in the heart wrenching refugee camps for victims of wars throughout the region.
“I don’t know if I go looking for volunteer opportunities or not, but they always seem to find me,” he says.
Classroom Coaching found him a year ago. He mentions recalling several emails from Human Resources at IBM telling employees of volunteer opportunities. “I saw one that involved math. I’m good at math and I like teaching it, so I thought this might be a nice break in my daily activities. I decided to try it,” he recalls.
What he found surprised him. “I walked into this class expecting to see some hardened, street-tough teenagers who didn’t really care if I was there or not. Instead, I found these kids who were so eager to please an attentive adult,” he says. “They want to tell you about their lives, they just really want an adult to listen to them.” So he did. And with the promise of teaching them a really awesome card trick if they could successfully work five problems in a session, the group began seeing math with new understanding.
They also began to see each other a little differently. “I believe very strongly that young men need a good male role model,” says the father of three. “I talked to them about mutual respect and what it means to be a man,” adding that he admonished them if the jabbing and teasing reached beyond acceptable boundaries. By the end of the year they were self policing, reminding each other to “be a man” if one was getting out of line.
He recalls a teacher who helped him stay on track - an English teacher who had a commanding presence despite what he describes as an uncanny likeliness to the little church lady on Saturday Night Live. “She drilled into our heads to write well, and to read good stories. She gave us big books that really challenged us.” Holle hopes to have the same long-term effect on his kids saying, “I hope they remember that we came into their classroom because we care, and we want them to succeed.”
Late last year his coworkers became curious about his coaching activities. “I would come back from my sessions and talk about how important what we’re doing with these kids is,” he says. “My coworkers became more intrigued. Then during an informational session I hosted, Austin Partners in Education staff said we could coach a whole classroom if we got enough volunteers. We thought that sounded great!” Burnet Middle School was chosen as the group’s volunteer location because of its proximity to IBM’s offices.
As an engineer working with other engineers this idea held tremendous appeal. Noting with his usual good nature, that engineers are not in general the most gregarious, extraverted social butterflies, Holle adds, “This was a perfect way for us to see each other and get together weekly while also doing meaningful work, as opposed to a happy hour where we might just find ourselves standing around staring at each other,” he laughed.coaches in the hall walking to class
His coworkers are a good match for the small group learning Classroom Coaching provides. They are smart and successful. Many are Hispanic and Latino, several are first generation college grads, and others are immigrants. “They are a great match for the kids in the classroom and can provide real world mentoring and role models,” he says. “Ruby Zgabay is from Cuba. Her parents were political refugees. She is first generation everything." Inaqui Delgado was born in Madrid. His parents had moved from El Salvador to Europe during El Salvador's civil war of the 1980's, eventually settling in Washington D.C. Holle goes on down the list of volunteers who all bring relevance and meaningful world picture to the classroom.
Sandy Dochen, Corporate Citizenship and Corporate Affairs Manager for Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana at IBM (and past Chair of Austin Partners in Education when it was Austin Adopt-a-School) is pleased to see the team from IBM in the classroom. “My IBM colleagues who coach and mentor students at Burnet Middle School are fulfilling a personal calling, improving students’ lives, and reflecting the best of IBM: our smart and highly motivated people,” Dochen says. “They demonstrate how busy people find time to enrich lives - and complement the work of teachers – to build our future workforce and community.” He added that he was delighted to see the growth of Classroom Coaching across the school district.
And while Holle doesn’t expect his kids to transform overnight, he and the team of IBM employees carpooling to the schools weekly definitely see academic progress. “I recall one of my four boys last year was really struggling,” says Holle. “At the end of the year he came running up to me to tell me he was going to be in Advanced Placement Algebra next year. He was so proud of himself and couldn’t wait to tell me. I told him I was really proud of him, and that I knew he could it. Then I reminded him to do his homework.”
At home Andrew and his wife have three children, a 19-year-old sophomore at Auburn, a son who is a senior at Westwood High, and a 12-year-old at Grisham. “I tutor math at home, but I leave the English and History to my wife,” he says.
 
More from IBM: Meet Christy Feng
Christy Feng came to the United States from China with her family in time to start 10th grade in Houston. “I was impressed the school systems here allowed students a lot more freedom in choosing more advanced classes.” she says. “Opic of christy feng, ibm engineern the other hand, I noticed after a while that this freedom actually prevented students with less motivation in learning more.” She had a strong discipline for studies already established, and recalls taking charge and enjoying the advanced classes. “Math was always one of my favorite subjects. I’d love to see if I can help students appreciate it more.” Feng will get that chance coaching Math this year with Austin Partners in Education. She joins a team of 12 other IBM employees in the classrooms.
“I had looked at other volunteer opportunities and math tutoring, but the times never worked with my schedule. When my co-worker Andrew told me about Austin Partners in Education I found out I could volunteer during lunch at a school near my job.” Feng admits to initial concerns about the one year commitment, but says she relaxed a bit after she saw so many co-workers making it work. “I will definitely treasure the relationship building and bonding with the students the year commitment provides,” she says.
Feng is new to Classroom Coaching, but like other IBM coaches, she has volunteer experience. In addition to her work with Goodwill, Capital Area Food Bank, and Goodwill Green Works, she also was involved with IBM’s Corporate Service Program. “I went to the Philippines to volunteer with a local disaster monitoring agency for a month this spring,” she says. “It was a very unique opportunity to give back.” The program is IBM’s Corporate Service Corps and only 500 employees are chosen to participate from thousands.
Christy Feng has lived in Austin for ten years and loves it here.

 

 Alejandro Dominguez - 6th Grade Reading Classroom Coach

Many who volunteer in the classroom do so thanks to influential teachers in their youth. For Alejandro Dominguez, the memories of elementary school aren’t as glowing.

His experiences with school in the U.S. began with his family’s arrival here from Mexico City in 1984. He was six years old and placed in Dallas, Texas schools where he was placed in English as a Second Language classroom. His teacher was harsh. “In those days if they wanted to drag you out by the ear, they did,” he recalled. “Times have changed.” He remembers being enormously frustrated by the fluency gap as he continued to learn English, but not as quickly as his increasingly impatient teacher demanded. “I didn’t want to be in ESL. I just wanted to back in the other classroom with all the other kids,” he says. “I can relate to any kid who is an immigrant and English is his or her second language.”
Ever the optimist, Dominguez prevailed, and today volunteers with kids a lot like he was. Dominguez is inarguably positive, genuine and engaged in his life. He credits his can-do attitude and his drive to his mother. “Shortly after we came to this country she became a single parent raising my sister and me. She worked full time and went to college,” he recalls.
“My desire to be involved in my community and to make an impact comes from her. She is Vice President  of a major media corporation now and is a living testament to the value of hard work. I want to replicate that success in my own life.”
He’s doing a great job on that goal. Dominguez works as the Community Director with the Housing Authority for the City of Austin, overseeing the day-to-day housing portfolio, and supervising the community development staff. The organization provides housing opportunities for more than 18,000 Austinites. He is also active with Hispanic Austin Leadership, the Chamber of Commerce, the Community Board of Adult Protective Services, and Toastmaster’s. This is his second year to give an hour a week, every week, to sixth graders as a Reading Classroom Coach with Austin Partners in Education.
“I love reading,” he says. “I’ve always been inspired by authors and writers. Reading through college I realized I shouldn’t be afraid to break the rules and go for my dreams. It made me realize the value of innovative and creative ideas, and I try to live that kind of life,” says Dominguez.
Does he get the same excitement from Coaching as he does from reading his favorite authors? You better believe it. “I come out of these coaching sessions so invigorated. People should do this to liven up their week,” he says. “It’s a hard feeling to actually sum up in words – there’s not a thing to compare it with, it’s just such a joy. “ He says he uses it as insurance that his work week won’t ever get caught up in mundane tasks. “When you leave a coaching session you come back to work energized, you’re rocking and rolling,” says Dominguez.
In addition to getting to share his passion for reading and the mental adventures stories provide, he finds other payoffs as well.  He recalled an experience with one of the boys in his coaching group last year. “He was the one who had a tough time concentrating. He didn’t seem engaged. He didn’t seem to care at all that I was there.” One day the boy quietly asked Dominguez his last name. “Well, the next session he shows up with a drawing he made for me,” explains Dominguez. The boy drew pictures – sort of intricate tattoo looking art – for all of his friends. The drawing was a heart with thorns, and Alejandro Dominguez carefully scrawled across the center. “It was then I knew, I am making a difference. I am having an impact. He does appreciate that I’m here,” says Dominguez, adding that he hopes he can make a positive difference in that boy’s life.
Five months ago child education became even more personal for Dominguez and his wife with the birth of their daughter. “I look at my baby Ellana, and then I read the statistics about Hispanic girls dropping out of school. It makes it even more important to me to be in that classroom every week.” He is delighted that his coaching group includes a girl this year. “She’s very smart. I am going to make sure she knows, every week when I see her, that I believe if she puts her mind to it she can do anything,” he says.
His goal to one day make a global impact is now fueled by the connectivity of social media. He is increasingly involved with youtube, as a way to connect with people from all over the world. “I think this provides a really creative way to get involved with interesting people and have share innovative ideas, no matter where they live,” he says.
His advice for other coaches is the same as it would be for anyone. “Your body, mind and heart know when you’re doing something that doesn’t line up with who you are. Be honest. Be yourself. Bring your heart, mind and body to your work every day. If not, you’ll get stuck in life. Every day wake up and make the choice to be involved in your life,” he suggests.

 

Sherry Washington - 2nd Grade Reading Classroom Coach

Some things about Sherry Washington are obvious. She smiles easily, and it lights up the room. She’s soft spoken and friendly. She’s smart and self confident, yet humble. You can’t miss these things when you meet her.
What may not be as obvious is her quiet determination to defy odds.
As an African American woman growing up in East Austin in the 1960’s and 70’s, Washington not only graduated high school, she went on to graduate college at a time when a lot of women didn’t. Coming into the room at just barely five feet tall, it might surprise people to know she played basketball in high school and college, because she wanted to. She became a systems analyst and computer programmer at a time when women of any color were a rarity in the sector. And, faced with a daunting cancer diagnosis, she rallied her deep and abiding faith and today is healthy and active, cancer-free.
As Ms. Washington clears one hurdle after the next she also embraces the community in which she was born and raised – Austin. Her ties to the city are long and strong, and usually involve community engagement and volunteering in her church and neighborhood schools.
Sherry Washington
It wasn’t always that way. Washington admits to being content with just barely getting by academically as a young girl at Sims Elementary in East Austin. Luckily for her, a few teachers early in her life had another idea.
“I recall Miss White in first grade taking a personal interest in me,” says Washington as she starts to fire off the names of key influencers like she was sitting in their classes just yesterday. “Mrs. White, Mrs. Hall in 5th grade and Miss Martin in 6th grade – all three of these teachers pushed me hard to do my best. I could feel the difference in how they wouldn’t let me be mediocre.” Failure not being an option, Washington buckled into her studies and succeeded academically, opening doors for life.
Now some 40 years later, she can’t shake their memory. In fact, she’s determined to pay them back - or pay them forward depending on your perspective. “For years I’ve been thinking of those teachers who were so influential in my life,” she says. “If no one requires more of you it’s easy to just do the bare minimum. They believed I could do better and because of that I did. I want to do that for the kids in school today – I want them to know they can do better.”
Far from the lost and struggling little girl in first grade, today Washington is a systems analyst with the State’s Department of Aging and Disability Services. She volunteers one hour a week, every week of the school year, as a Classroom Coach with Austin Partners in Education’s 2nd grade Reading program.
Prior to her first classroom coaching experience, Washington had been toying with the idea of a return to the classroom. “When I found out last year I had one year until I qualified for retirement, I decided there’s time to start a second career and I’m going to be a teacher,” she confirms. “These kids in school now are our future. If they are allowed to fail our society will crumble.”
When she heard about the volunteer opportunity with Austin Partners in Education, Washington jumped at the chance to test a return to the classroom. In fact, she admits to being as excited as a kid on the first day of school when she started her first coaching session.
“For our first exercise the coach and students try to get to know each other,” she explains. “So I had my four students and I make a little booklet about who we are. I was trying to think of what I could say that would be interesting to a 2nd grader. “
Washington, who has a life-long interest in seeing the world, had recently been to Morocco where she rode a camel. “I looked at the camel picture and knew that was the way to introduce myself,” she says. The photo and Washington were an instant smash hit with the kids as the weekly sessions began.
Over the course of the school year the economy took a tumble and several parents in the school where she coached had to relocate for jobs. Her group of four dwindled to a group of one, but Washington gave it her all every week.
“I need to work 40 hours a week so I came in early, took a short lunch, and stayed a little late to make up the time I spend volunteering,” she explained. Like all volunteers, Washington had to balance the various restraints from life and work commitments.  
In April of this year, Washington found herself suddenly facing the ultimate strain on her schedule and commitments. She was given a diagnosis of aggressive breast cancer. Faced with a fight for her life, she had surgery on April 30. A few days later she returned to classroom coaching for the last session of the academic school year. When asked how she mustered the courage and stamina to do that she quietly replied, “That little girl came to every coaching session. I had to be there for her the last class day.” Later that next week, Washington underwent additional surgery and began the long ordeal of difficult treatments that accompany a cancer diagnosis.
Last week a happy and healthy Sherry Washington was beaming her signature smile as she signed up for another year of Classroom Coaching, her cancer in remission.
What’s her next big challenge? Teacher certification courses and the launch of a second career. She has her eyes on the ultimate prize. “I want to return to Sims Elementary where I first had the influence of a teacher who really took a personal interest in me, and I want to teach there.”
When asked what one thing she hopes her students will take from the experience of having her as a teacher she quickly answered, “Oh I always tell the students to be sure to remember one thing: if you can read, you can do anything!”
Sherry Washington is proof of that.
 

Upon reading Sherry Washington’s story Austin Partners in Education supporter Omarr Guerrero of Horace Mann Insurance announced his intention to award Ms. Washington up to $500 for her first semester’s books and school supplies when she starts her teacher certification training. Guerrero, Southwest Sales Development Manager, is teaming with Austin area agents to create the award as a show of support for Washington’s commitment to volunteer service. “Horace Mann Company was founded by educators, for educators, “said Guerrero. “We are moved by Ms. Washington’s commitment to the classroom and we wanted to let her know we wish her the very best as she ventures into the world of teaching.  We know her students will benefit from her vision and commitment.”Horace Mann is the largest national multiline insurance company serving America's educators and their families. 

 

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