LYNN — State and local dignitaries and educators gathered at the Lynn Museum Wednesday night for the 11th annual Celebrate Literacy Day & Excellence in Literacy Leadership Award Reception.
As a ukulelist performed a cover of Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in The Wind,” School Committee members mingled with local and state officials like Essex County Sheriff Kevin Coppinger, Mayor Jared Nicholson, and state Rep. Dan Cahill (D-Lynn).
After Celebrate Literacy Planning Committee Organizer and Host Gina O’Toole welcomed the crowd and introduced the sponsors, Nicholson walked to the microphone and made a brief speech in which he said that with the first day of school in Lynn right around the corner, the city is in an exciting time for literacy and education.
“I’m so grateful for this opportunity to be able to learn more and to be able to reflect on the wonderful leadership, effort, and achievement that happens all throughout the year all throughout the city,” Nicholson said.
The first Excellence in Literacy Leadership Award recipient went to Executive Director of The REAL Program Jan Plourde, who thanked and commended the Celebrate Literacy Day Planning Committee for their dedication to expanding literacy.
“Truly it is transformative to be able to read, and it makes a huge difference in everybody’s lives, and for those who are able to read in another language, give yourselves a round of applause because that is a huge accomplishment,” Plourde said. “Stepping up and leaning in is all these women do, all day long in their jobs, in their hobbies, in their everyday lives, all they do is step up and lean in.”
Ward 3 Councilor Coco Alinsug announced the next award recipient, CEO and Founder of the Kumba Foundation Princess Guwor-Vonyeegar, who was not able to accept the award because she was in Liberia building a school. Instead, her uncle, Saah Tumba, whose speech, which focused on the difficulties his family faced in the U.S. getting an education as Liberian immigrants, brought a portion of the audience to tears.
“It was a challenge for her [Vonyeegar] to read. Can you imagine being in the second grade at age 9, and then you come to America, and they have to put you in the fifth grade? It was a challenge, but Princess thrived. I will call her my little girl that strived, and she came home … she was so determined, and when Princess graduated college, she came back to Lynn and she called me one time and said ‘uncle, guess what? I’m going to be a teacher at the elementary school that I attended,’” Tumba said.
Cynthia McCleary was given the last Excellence in Literacy Leadership Award for her work as an ESL educator at Connery Elementary School. McCleary said that her dedication to teaching English to students during the pandemic came from her ability to empathize with her students as a mother.
“We’ve been through a lot these last few years, and our students have been through just as much if not more trying to figure out how they can stay connected,” McCleary said. “I remember setting up my little sewing room to read to kids so that they still had someone to read to them, and then talk about what they read, because that’s what we do in school. They were missing that time, and I just kept thinking, ‘if my children were in that time, how would I want their educator to respond?’ so that’s why I try to do my best,” McCleary said.
The final award, the 2022 Untold Stories Award, went to the founder of Mutual Aid Lynn, vice president of the North Shore Juneteenth Association, and president of the racial equity organization Prevent The Cycle, Adrianna Paz.
“Reading was the path to who I am today. When I was a child, my mother had to work tirelessly to raise her children. She was a Colombian immigrant who came here, like so many others, not knowing the language and with nothing in her pockets. She came here with a dream for a better life for her children, especially her favorite,” Paz said. “While she worked, I had responsibilities at home, but it was through books that I was able to let my imagination fly. Through books, I was able to understand so much about the world around me.”
Anthony Cammalleri can be reached at [email protected].
