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Excerpts of the article by Mary Lour Hazal,
A&M-Commerce News Jacob Pichnarcik says Texas Hope Literacy gave him a purpose in life. As a tutor for Texas Hope Literacy, Pichnarcik saw adults with learning disabilities learning to read and write. "I saw one man write his first letter to his daughter," said Pichnarcik, a Texas A&M University-Commerce sophomore majoring in biology and English. Serving time on a substance abuse charge, Pichnarcik credits this literacy program and his work as a tutor with helping him turn his life around. Inmate Tutors work one-on-one with inmate students, most of whom had not been successful in regular education earlier in their lives. Education is badly needed in Texas jails and prisons because the majority of inmates are functionally illiterate. After serving his sentence, Pichnarcik decided to get a college degree. Eric Gruver, History professor at A&M asked Jacob to speak at one of his classes. Interested in learning more, Gruver and some of the students in the class made a trip with Pichnarcik to Hutchins State Jail near Dallas to observe the inmates involved in Texas Hope Literacy. A&M Commerce student Jeania McFadden was fascinated in getting to watch adults learning to read and write. "I just didn't want to leave. Some were learning the alphabet and numbers. They were grown men," McFadden said. "I hope other A&M-Commerce students will have a chance to go and see what they are doing at the jail," said McFadden, a Blossom senior who will begin her field-based teacher education training this spring in a Paris area public school. Tina Kennedy, a Paris junior, was also moved by what she saw. "It was an amazing experience." Kennedy, who will be observing reading classes in elementary schools in the spring, related that she and several of the A&M-commerce student stopped to watch an inmate learning to write the letter "I." "We saw the inmate concentrating so hard to write this letter that he didn't realize we were there.." Kennedy noticed the close working relationship between the tutor and the student. "They cared about each other. There was a trust there," she observed. |