Plot Twist: Meher Gandhi

Welcome to our blog series, Plot Twist! Here, we'll be sharing the stories of people in the Words Alive community — stories of change, growth, and maybe a few surprising twists! We hope that through these stories, you'll get to know our community a little better and see the power of literacy come to life.

A picture of Meher.

Meet Meher Gandhi, an incredible volunteer who supports us all the way from her home Uttar Pradesh, India! Meher is a college student who navigates a 12-hour time difference to host virtual orientation sessions for those interested in joining our community. 

To Meher, being an orientation leader is all about “letting [new volunteers] know how much hard work, but also compassion that goes into the work that we do at Words Alive.” And she’s done a fantastic job: she has single-handedly introduced 130 potential volunteers to Words Alive since October, and was recently named Engagement Volunteer of the Year at our 12th Annual Volunteer Appreciation Celebration for her incredible work.

To introduce herself, Meher says, “Anybody who knows me knows that I love literature; I love reading and writing and talking to people and getting to know them, which is precisely why I am glad that I'm a part of Words Alive!” 

At university, she studies media, literature, and psychology, and she also works with publishers to review books on her blog and her bookstagram (book-themed Instagram) account @bustleboutbooks — so she has a lot of experience with the power of words.

In the fall of 2020, she decided to try to find a place where she could use her love for reading and writing and her diverse experiences in the world of words to give back to the community. She wanted to increase access to the kinds of literacy resources that have made such an impact in her own life.

“I signed up with VolunteerMatch, and then I got to know about Words Alive and I didn't look any further,” she says, smiling.

The cover of Dear Martin, by Nic Stone.

Initially, Meher joined us as a curriculum writer for the book Dear Martin by Nic Stone. She loved learning how to analyze books on a deeper level and knowing that the curriculum she wrote would directly impact the lives of students. 

“I’ve analyzed the book and I’ve brought together some resources that can actually help kids in the longer run to really understand aspects like racism or violence or police brutality,” she says. 

Though the topics may sometimes be difficult, she loves getting to help students grapple with these big concepts through words and stories.

After a few months of curriculum writing, Meher stepped up to lead other volunteers as an orientation leader. 

“When I had to give the first orientation...I was pretty nervous, because there was a lot of responsibility that I felt...being the face of the organization,” she shares. “I wanted to be absolutely perfect at that — at communicating all the values that we uphold and how we really approach things,” she says.

Meher herself had only been with Words Alive for two to three months at this point! But this fresh perspective made her the perfect person to understand how other new volunteers might feel when hearing about Words Alive for the first time and to address their doubts and concerns. With each new orientation, she grew in her confidence and ability to share the mission of Words Alive.

Because of the time difference between the U.S. and India, she occasionally has to run her orientations at 4 in the morning! But she doesn’t mind. “I do remember waking up in the middle of the night for my first orientation for Words Alive, and that's something I will always cherish because that just shows how much I really wanted to be a part of it,” Meher says. 

Words Alive volunteer Jim McIlhon presents Meher the Engagement Volunteer of the Year Award at the Volunteer Appreciation Celebration.

“It's all been worth it. I welcome all the new potential volunteers that come in, and that’s just wonderful because there are a lot of new people who want to know about Words Alive,” she says. “I am really, really grateful to be a part of the organization...Everybody makes you feel like it’s a family.” 

Meher is passionate about creating opportunities for people from different cultures to learn from each other. “Being an international volunteer, I do have sort of a different way to approach certain things,” she says. “But I think that’s how we can actually learn to incorporate different cultural heritages and cultural introductions that we give to each other.” 

“Literacy is not just about gaining qualifications or degrees; it’s more about broadening your horizons on the ways you look at things.”

“You have a mix of all these cultures and all these traditions...and that just contributes to the higher purpose we have,” she says. “Literacy is not just about gaining qualifications or degrees; it’s more about broadening your horizons on the ways you look at things.” 

Meher’s biggest takeaway from being a Words Alive volunteer, she says, is that she “was able to really understand the ways of the organization and how we are really giving something to the community—to the people—not just in words, but in actions.”

In the future, Meher hopes that Words Alive can bring in even more international volunteers so that more people around the world learn about our work. She is also excited about engaging more with other volunteers and trying out new roles within Words Alive such as the Storytelling Team and Page Turners. 

And one day, she says, “I really hope I can visit San Diego and see and meet you all in person!”

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Meher, we hope we get to meet you in person one day too! You are making a difference around the world and we are so thankful for the passion you bring to Words Alive.

This post was created by Zoe Wong and Judy Stout, Words Alive volunteers! Do you love writing and have an interest in helping Words Alive create this type of content? We'd love to have you on the team! Email to learn more.

Author Adib Khorram Visits Words Alive Students at San Ysidro High School

A picture of Adib next to the cover of his first book, Darius the Great is Not Okay.

Acclaimed young adult author Adib Khorram recently visited one of our partner classrooms at San Ysidro High School to share his story and chat with students! Thanks to a Words Alive volunteer who donated through last year’s Author’s Auction, high school students who have been reading Adib’s first book, Darius the Great is Not Okay, were able to meet him and ask questions. With humor and honesty, Adib shared insights about his path to becoming an author, struggles with mental health, the importance of representation and diversity in books, and of course, the power of reading and writing with our students.

When he was a student himself, Adib said, "All the books we read were really boring books about rich, straight, White people finding ways to have problems." When he first started writing, this pattern appeared in his own work, too.

"I didn't realize that you were allowed to write about other people," he said.

It wasn't until the We Need Diverse Books movement started in 2014 that he began to ask himself, "What's a book that only I could write?"

Darius the Great is Not Okay grew out of Adib’s own experiences growing up in diaspora as an Iranian-American, being a queer boy who didn’t line up with other people’s expectations of masculinity, and living with depression. He wanted to write a story that was authentic to his own lived experience.

As he shared these experiences, Adib was candid about the struggles he's faced and the nonlinear journey he took to becoming an author. He assured students that it's okay to not have everything together.

"My life has basically been a long series of 'This seems like a good idea...on second thought, maybe not,'" he said, laughing. "I'm a disaster, but I'm also still a functioning member of society, and I feel like people need to know that you can be both!"

Though the experiences themselves may have been difficult, telling these stories has been a powerful path to healing.

"Writing's a lot cheaper than therapy," he joked. "Writing about the things that hurt me, that made me afraid, that made me nervous, and finding out that other people felt the same way and that it resonated with them, makes me feel a lot less lonely."

Ultimately, his hope is that reflecting on the difficult experiences he’s had through writing helps his readers with the challenges they face in their own lives.

"Part of my job as a writer of young adult books is to make the world better for young adults," he said simply.

Students had lots of questions after hearing Adib share. They asked everything from “Why does Darius go into so much detail about things like tea and Star Trek?” to “How has the pandemic affected you?” to “How are you able to be so open about vulnerable parts of yourself?”

When one student asked how to overcome the uncertainty that comes with writing a story for the first time, Adib had this to say:

"Sometimes you're afraid to start a story because it's getting at something that you don't want to share. My advice is to be brave and take it a little at a time. Sometimes we don't want to start a story because we're not ready, and then it's important to be gentle with yourself until you're ready. Sometimes it's hard because starting is hard and a blank page is scary. I'm a big fan of just writing something, letting it be crappy, and then it's something that you can fix instead of start."

And if all else fails?

"Laying down on the ground bemoaning existence is good too," he said with a smile.

We're so thankful for this opportunity to partner with San Ysidro High School and grateful to Adib for stopping by for a visit! If you’d like to make more partnerships like this one possible, click here to learn more.

Meet Our New Engagement Director, Alyssa Broda!

We are so excited to announce the latest addition to the Words Alive team: our new Engagement Director, Alyssa Broda! Read on to learn more about Alyssa and what she’s bringing to Words Alive.

An image of Alyssa in front of a colorful mural that says “You Are Radiant! Yes, You.”

Alyssa is a dynamic fundraising professional with over 10 years of experience in the nonprofit sphere. She has helped fund the mission of NPR, PBS, American Cancer Society, American Lung Association, and more. Joining the Words Alive team in April 2021, Alyssa is working towards helping the organization reach new levels of engagement amongst donors and volunteers. Originally from Pennsylvania, Alyssa holds a Masters of Public Administration degree from Penn State University. On the weekends you can find her volunteering with rescue dogs and trying out new restaurants in SoCal.

Now, let’s hear from Alyssa herself!

What intrigued you about Words Alive? Why did you want to join the team?

“Literacy is an incredibly important social justice issue. I was intrigued by Words Alive’s community approach to solving this crisis in San Diego. The team is passionate, innovative, and so kind and welcoming that it was an easy decision!”

What are you most excited about in your new position?

“Learning about why people are drawn to Words Alive is the aspect of this role that will be the best part of my job. Every donor, volunteer, and partner comes with their own story about why this organization means so much to them. I get to spend my time learning about how Words Alive has changed their lives, and it is always incredibly rewarding.”

What is your relationship with literacy and learning?

“I am a lifelong learner and always curious about people. I’m lucky that my reading skills allowed me to expand my world bigger and bigger each year. Part of my self-care is reading because it allows my mind to wander. Literacy is my foundation for being a well-rounded and healthy individual.”

What are you currently reading?

“Currently I am reading Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters. I have a bad habit of avoiding novels – I only read about one a year and stick to my normal library of memoirs and nonfiction. But this is my attempt of building my novel repertoire!”

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We are so excited to have Alyssa on our team! Currently, there are no employment opportunities at Words Alive, but we are ALWAYS recruiting for wonderful volunteers to support our students and families. Learn how to get involved here!

The Pandemic's Impact on Student Mental Health

Written by Ben Hollingshead, Words Alive volunteer and student at The Bishop's School in San Diego.

A student seated at a desk rests his head on his arms.

Last year, as COVID-19 started to spread virulently across the globe, schools were suspended in 188 countries and over 90% of enrolled learners, a whopping 1.5 billion students worldwide, were out of school, creating a global scale of disruption in education that is completely unprecedented. Today, over a year after the first cases of COVID were diagnosed in the United States, distance learning has taken a toll on the mental well-being of students.

“All we are left with is the monotony of academics on Zoom on repeat. ”

— RH, high school senior

One of my friends, a senior in high school, described it well when he said he has recently “hit the proverbial pandemic wall” after nearly a year in quarantine. “All that extra stuff that makes school fun—the sports, the rehearsals, the school lunches and just the fun spontaneously hanging out with friends—has been stripped from our experience. And all we are left with is the monotony of academics on Zoom on repeat.”

A black-and-white image of someone typing at a laptop.

For many of us, online school is frustrating. During a typical day online, students spend 6-7 hours staring at the computer screens trying to focus on lectures and then another 3-4 hours on homework also on the computer. These sterile digital screens typically do not allow us to gauge emotions in the room or truly interact with our friends like we would in a regular classroom.

This lack of interaction is tough, especially in classes where discussion and debate is the primary basis for learning. It also makes classes that require interactive laboratory work almost impossible to conduct effectively. So while students, in theory, are attending classes, they may not be getting the same level of academic rigor as they would in a typical in-person classroom. 

A girl sits alone on a couch.

While the loss of learning is concerning, it is the sense of isolation that comes with online learning that is the most disturbing. School is where most of us build our social network. Interacting with friends at school is a healthy way to buffer the stresses (tests, parental pressure) that we experience. With school closures, this physical social safety-net no longer exists. The new normal is disconcerting and extremely lonely. 

Added to this sense of isolation, many families face increased stress and anxiety as more parents are faced with job losses and food insecurity as a result of the pandemic. Even in households where the parents have not experienced job loss, students mention feeling cooped-up after months of isolation.

“We are on Zoom all day long, everyone staring at different computer screens 24/7.”

— A.V., high school first-year

My friend A.V. described feeling “claustrophobic as everyone in my family is stuck inside the house. I’m in my room, my brother in his, my dad and mom are in a separate room also working. We are on Zoom all day long, everyone staring at different computer screens 24/7.”

All these factors, coupled with the constant fear about catching the virus itself—not to mention the most vitriolic and divisive Presidential Election in the history of this country taking place as they struggle through school—has resulted in a significant increase in the number of students that need emergency mental health counseling services. In a recent Gallup poll, nearly three in 10 (29%) parents disturbingly say their child is "already experiencing harm" to their mental health because of social distancing and school closures. And another 14% of parents say that their children are close to hitting their limits.

A picture of Rady Children’s Hospital.

According to Sandy Mueller, Senior Director of Behavioral Health Services for Rady Children’s Hospital, the hospital has seen a “spike, about a 5 percent to 7 percent increase in the kids coming to our emergency room” with mental health issues compared to the previous year (San Diego Union Tribune 2/2021). This mirrors national data from the CDC that shows a 24% increase in mental health-related ER visits among children 5-11 and 31% increase among adolescents ages 12 to 17 compared to similar periods in 2019. 

What is especially heartbreaking is that the pandemic has disproportionately affected already vulnerable populations. In San Diego County alone, 100,000 children do not have basic access to the Internet so they can attend their classes. While the average student could fall behind seven months academically, the loss could be as much as 10 months for Black children and nine months for Latinx children. Students with existing mental health conditions and those with learning disabilities have not had the same face-to-face access to counselors and resources as they did pre-pandemic. Things have been especially dire for children in abusive homes, as the pandemic has forced them to be locked in with their abusers with no access to the safe haven of schools.

A picture of volunteers sorting book donations.

During the pandemic, Words Alive volunteers helped families grow their home libraries and read together while schools were closed.

But while the challenges of the pandemic are many, we as a community, and you and I as individuals, are not powerless. One thing I am definitely grateful for is the opportunity to volunteer at Words Alive to support their work during the pandemic. It has shown me that we can take action to help our students, and over the last year, I’ve watched countless counselors, educators, nonprofits, families and community members do just that, stepping up time and time again to confront the challenges thrown at them by this virus.

And now, hope seems to be on the horizon. With vaccinations being administered and the number of cases dropping, public schools are beginning to reopen in a hybrid model. This model appears to be working well as many schools in San Diego have already moved to a hybrid model that combines distance and in-person learning, including The Bishop’s School, the school I attend. For the two days a week that I am physically at school, I appreciate, more than ever, the blessing of being able to hang out with friends and meet teachers on campus. 

A row of paper dolls wearing masks holds hands on an orange background.

This gratitude is ultimately the silver lining that I will take away from this pandemic. Small things that we tended to take completely for granted, like eating out or watching a movie with friends, will now feel new and will be celebrated.

After a year of disruptions and social isolation, I believe my generation of students will emerge more resilient and thankful for everything we have.

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Thank you, Ben, for sharing your experiences with us! We are so grateful for your support and care for your fellow students.

If you connected with Ben’s story and want to take action to help our community’s most vulnerable students emerge strong from the pandemic, you can support our online, free resources for teens right here at Words Alive. Through our Treat Yo’ Shelf (formerly QuaranTEENs) resource, Words Alive has developed journaling prompts and writing exercises to help students explore healthy coping strategies for the increased stresses they are experiencing.

We are also about to launch our annual Art & Lit project in partnership with ArtReach and for the first time ever, the entire community can participate!

A red and gray Identity Circle from this year’s Art & Lit project.

Art & Lit helps students connect books to their own lives by guiding them through a thoughtful and engaging art project. In response to the mental health crisis many students are facing this year, our project is intentionally focused on books that explore themes of loneliness and isolation and you will explore themes of identity, courage, and bravery as you create your unique art piece. Learn more about getting involved here.

EY & Words Alive Are Changing the World Through Reading

Words Alive has been thrilled to work with EY over the last year and we’re excited to recognize the company as our Corporate Partner of the Year!

EY first contacted us in 2020 as they were looking for a meaningful service project to offer their employees for their national service week. Our Page Turners Program ended up being the perfect fit! Page Turners is a group of more than 1,200 volunteers who help us read and review potential books to add to the official Words Alive Curriculum. As they are reviewing the book, volunteers answer questions such as: “What is the author’s message?” “Does this novel address issues of racial justice?” “Did this book inspire you to read more?” All of these answers help us determine if this is a good book for Words Alive students and families in particular.

During their national service week, more than 230 employees from 30 states submitted more than 300 Page Turners book reviews. One of the participants was so inspired by the opportunity – and the book she read – that she introduced Words Alive to EY volunteers in Canada. Together, the North American EY community helped Words Alive read more than 32,300 pages in search of the best, most engaging titles!

Since Page Turners launched in January 2020, we’ve experienced huge growth in the program, thanks in large part to EY and the 230 employees who stepped up to help. By taking the time to submit thoughtful reviews, Page Turners allow us to be confident that the books in our programming are relatable and interesting to our students – an intentional aspect of our programs that supports students on their journey to increased self-expression and identifying as a reader.

We are so thankful to EY for being an incredible partner to Words Alive over the past year, and for supporting our organization as the Presenting Sponsor of our 2021 Volunteer Appreciation Event. We can’t wat to see what the future holds for our partnership with EY!

The Words Alive Reader: April 19, 2021

Welcome to The Words Alive Reader, a regular newsletter keeping you up-to-date with the latest in how we've been connecting children, teens, and families to the power of reading. What have we been up to and how can you help? Read on to find out!

13-Year-Old Aden Raises More Than $1,200 for Words Alive

A picture of Aden reading a book.

"I want to make sure others can enjoy the pleasure of reading without barriers standing in their way." — Aden

Words Alive would like to thank Aden for hosting a readathon with three of her friends to raise money for us, all the way from Washington, D.C.! As part of her Bat Mitzvah project, she has already raised over $1,200 to support our mission—more than double her initial $500 goal. Aden and her friends have already documented 3,369 minutes read. We are so inspired by her example and grateful for her support. Learn more about the project and help Aden reach her new $1,500 goal here!

Family Literacy Program with DEEP

A screenshot from one of our Family Literacy Program sessions.

We were excited to welcome 40 children (from 29 families) to the latest wave of our Family Literacy Program! Thanks to Diamond Educational Excellence Partnership (DEEP) and our dedicated volunteers, we shared six weeks of early literacy programming in Spanish and English with parents and their preschool age kids. We had a blast reading, singing, and doing crafts together, and are looking forward to many more Family Literacy Program sessions in the future. In the meantime, if you’re looking for literacy resources for the little ones in your life, visit our website!

Highlighting Asian American and Pacific Islander Stories

A graphic with a collage of some of the AAPI authors we featured and their books.

We know that authentic, diverse representation in the stories we read is a powerful way to combat hatred and build community. We use our social media platforms (@WordsAliveSD) to spotlight authors who represent the lived experiences of the children, teens, and families we serve.

Recently we've been proud to share the voices of authors from the Asian American and Pacific Islander community, such as Jenny Han, Kelly Yang, Randy Ribay, and more. For our latest blog post, we've compiled these spotlights as a resource to help all of us diversify the books we're reading. Check it out here!

Thank You, UCSD!

Three volunteers from UCSD jump for joy in front of a van packed with learning kit supplies.

Thank you to the dozens of UC San Diego students who took time out of their spring break to assemble learning kits with craft supplies, books and reading activities for us!  Learning Kits are stocked with the tools students need to succeed: pens and pencils, stationery, scissors, and, of course, new books. If you’d like to help, check out our Amazon wishlist to help us provide even more learning kits to students and families.

Join Us This Thursday For Our Volunteer Appreciation Celebration

A graphic that says “You’re Invited! Words Alive’s 12th Annual Volunteer Appreciation Celebration, Presented by EY.” In the bottom half, it says “Thursday, April 22 at 4PM PT. Sign up to join us for an optional breakout session to participate in the 2021 Art & Lit project!”

We want to celebrate you! You are invited to Words Alive's 12th Annual Volunteer Appreciation Celebration, presented by EY. The event takes place this week on Thursday, April 22nd at 4 pm PT.

Join us as we reflect on a year of incredible contributions from volunteers all across San Diego, the United States, and the world! ​​​​​​​During the hour-long event, join us as we present service awards to distinguished volunteers in our community and hear from organization and community leaders about the impact we made over the past year. There will also be a sneak-preview of our 2021 Art & Lit Experience.

Meet Fellow Volunteers at the Welcome Wagon

All aboard the Welcome Wagon! New to Words Alive or looking to meet other volunteers? Want to know what teams like the Curriculum Crew and Social Media Squad have been up to recently?

Come to this monthly event to meet new and veteran volunteers, learn more about each team and the projects they work on, and have fun! The next Welcome Wagon is leaving the station on Thursday, April 29th at 3pm PT.

Text that reads “MEET FELLOW VOLUNTEERS AT THE WORDS ALIVE WELCOME WAGON: Thursday, April 29th at 3 pm PT” over a floral blue, orange, and pink background.

Donate here to support Words Alive!

This newsletter, in addition to our blog and social media content, is written by us, a cohort of volunteers! Do you love writing and have an interest in helping Words Alive create this type of content? We'd love your help! Email to learn more.

- Zoe, Eli, Nia and Titiksha, Words Alive Storytelling Team

April Page Turner of the Month

Every month we like to highlight one of our superstar Page Turners!

our April Page Turner of the Month is…

Sumaya Abdel-Motagaly

How did you get started with Words Alive? 

I had been looking for a way to fulfill my high school volunteer requirements when I stumbled across the Words Alive website. As an avid reader, I was instantly intrigued and wanted to join right away!

What has been the best book you've read with Page Turners?

The best book I've read with Page Turners would have to be Muslim Girls Rise: Inspirational Champions of Our Time by Saira Mir. As a young Muslim woman myself, this book deeply resonated with me. Growing up, I never had the privilege of reading books that I could identify with and I'm thankful that Words Alive helped introduce them to me. I hope that it helps empower other minority children as they read more books representing them that they can positively relate with. 

Why did you start reading books with Page Turners and why do you continue?

I love to read, and I always have!

What city are you based in?

Baltimore, Maryland 

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Want to become a Page Turner? Get started below:

Celebrating Asian American and Pacific Islander Stories

Here at Words Alive, we love celebrating the diverse narratives and lived experiences that make our community so wonderful. We grieve the horrific and heartbreaking surge in violence against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders over the last year, and we believe that authentic and diverse representation in the stories we read is one of many ways to #StopAsianHate.

This is by no means a comprehensive list, but as a start, we wanted to highlight the voices of some of our favorite #AAPI authors. To #StandUpforAAPI in solidarity with the AAPI community, we invite you to diversify your shelves with us!

Randy Ribay's book The Patron Saints of Nothing is a favorite for our students. It's a beautiful novel about grief, guilt, and the risks a Filipino-American teenager takes to uncover the truth about his cousin's murder. Learn more about Randy here.

Last year, our Page Turners helped us identify "Hello, Universe" as a great book for Words Alive students, and they were right! Erin Entrada Kelly’s middle grade novel follows four characters on a journey about identity, bravery, and friendship. We highly recommend you pick up this book to step into a world of diverse and interesting characters, in celebration of #DeafAwarenessMonth, and just to read a fantastic story. Our students love it and you will too! Learn more about Erin here.

We love the incredible writing of Kelly Yang. In her middle grade novel "Front Desk", Kelly gives us a glimpse into the life of the plucky, young, second-generation immigrant Mia Tang and her quest to help her parents and find herself. Learn more about Kelly here.

You may recognize "To All the Boys I've Loved Before" as Netflix movies, but first they were books! Jenny Han introduces us to charming characters and sprinkles Lara Jean's Korean roots, love, friendships and heartbreaks throughout the book series. To quote from the book, "I suppose I'll say it all started with a love letter." Learn more about Jenny here.

Sarah Kuhn’s popular Heroine Complex series stars Asian American superheroines. If you love a fast-paced adventure featuring strong, interesting characters, then this book is for you! Learn more about Sarah here.

We hope you’ve found some new authors and books to add to your shelves! Who are your favorite AAPI authors? Share them with us in the comments below.

Congrats to our President's Volunteer Service Award Winners!

In 2003, the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation founded the President’s Volunteer Service Award to recognize the important role of volunteers in America’s strength and national identity. This award honors individuals whose service positively impacts communities in every corner of the nation and inspires those around them to take action too.

This Award honors the volunteers who are using their time and talents to solve some of the toughest challenges facing our nation.  Now, more than ever, literacy is one of the toughest challenges facing our nation.  Pared with learning to read, making true, meaningful connections to text is the key to unlocking the power of reading. 

This year, we are honored to celebrate 6 volunteers who are making these meaningful connections happen. Feel free to watch the video of our ceremony for these incredible volunteers, as well as read more about each of them, below!

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Anika Mehra is being awarded the Bronze Award in recognition of 103 hours supporting our Page Turners program. At last count, Anika has reviewed 24 books for our Page Turners program from her home in the Bay Area. Thanks to her thoughtful reviews, six of the titles have already been selected and added to Words Alive’s curriculum. As an example about how thoughtful Anika is she wrote this about the novel Stef Soto: Taco Queen by Jennifer Torres:

“This book inspired me to think deeply about real-world issues, such as how many immigrants who come to the US constantly have to face an uphill battle since they are not only in a new country, likely learning a new language and culture, but also having to face different social, emotional, and even economic barriers.”

Caleb Samson is being awarded the Bronze Award in recognition of 107 hours supporting the development of Words Alive’s curriculum in 2020. Caleb joined the Words Alive team as a curriculum writer and displayed a real talent for creating quality guides for both teachers and families. Every question or prompt he creates is thoughtful, purposeful, and fun – all of which is so important to our programming. He is excellent at writing curriculum for all ages – teens and toddlers alike, which is quite a skill!  As an example, Caleb wrote curriculum so Words Alive could integrate Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay into our curriculum.  The book, a National Book Award Finalist, was released less than a year ago.

Zoe Wong is being awarded the Bronze Award in recognition of 160 hours supporting Words Alive in better telling our story. Zoe started volunteering for us early in the pandemic to support our social media work. She had great ideas to contribute at our monthly social media strategy meetings and never hesitated to take initiative on those ideas and propel our online content forward. Zoe took on additional responsibilities to help us tell our story by connecting the Words Alive community in a virtual world.  She has interviewed over a dozen members of the Words Alive community capturing and sharing their stories in video, blog posts, and through social media.  In addition, Zoe leads a group of more than 10 volunteers to tell Words Alive stories through our blog and newsletters.

Teoman Yazar is being awarded the Bronze Award in recognition of 70 hours supporting our Page Turners program. At age 11, Teoman is our youngest volunteer being recognized with this award.  We are so inspired by how committed he is to connecting other youth with the power of reading. Teoman has read 976 pages for Page Turners including The Whispers by Greg Howard, The Voting Booth by Brandy Colbert, The Wave by Todd Strasser, and The First Rule of Punk by Celia Perez. After reading The Whispers, Teoman shared that:

“[the book] taught me to think about what has happened and not just ignore everything bad that happens.”

Noshin Akhtar, is being awarded the Silver Award in recognition of your 91 service hours supporting Page Turners. Another Bay Area volunteer, and at just 15 years old, Noshin has reviewed 35 books for us in the past year.  Titles on that list include First Rule of Punk by Celia Perez, Don’t Ask Me Where I’m From by Jennifer de Leon, Jackpot by Nic Stone, and The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline.

 Noshin began volunteering with Words Alive as part of the #CaliforniansForAll Summer of Service statewide initiative in 2020.  She was searching for a way to help people while staying safe at home – and gravitated towards an opportunity to use her love of reading to do so. 

 Noshin’s insight into dozens of books is helping us identify the best titles to connect other teens with stories that reflect their lived experiences.  I’d like to share with you powerful insight Noshin shared with us after she read Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhhà Lai. 

“I tried to put myself in Hà's shoes and imagine myself as a 10-year old never feeling emotionally secure with only my mother and brothers to help and support me regardless of the rare kindness shown by the people of my new country, but soon realized that unless I'm cast out into another world with the offer of peace and comfort but still not finding it, I could never understand the genuine pain these immigrant children had to suffer from daily in a new and strange environment.”

 Noshin shared with us that when she found Words Alive and the Page Turners program she instinctively knew she needed to join our book-loving community.  In fact, she called it the “perfect opportunity for an over enthusiastic bookworm” like her. And we are certainly lucky to have Noshin in our book-loving community. 

Annika Schafer is being recognized with the Gold Award in recognition of an extraordinary 416 hours leading and growing our Page Turners program. Annika has been a stellar volunteer for Words Alive for many years now, hosting book drives, writing curriculum, and even helping us with the behind-the-scenes infrastructure needed to produce our curriculum. In 2020 she stepped up for Words Alive in a major way. When the pandemic hit, Annika asked us how she could help Words Alive respond.

 From her home in San Diego, and then her pandemic home-away-from-home in Upstate New York, Annika stepped up to volunteer to lead our Page Turners program. 

• She quadrupled the Page Turners volunteer base and expanded the program’s reach internationally.

• She built an entirely new database and communications structure to help the program scale.

• She designed and implemented strategies to recruit and celebrate our Page Turners community.

• In this work, Annika managed relationships with Fortune 500 corporations and service groups from Brooklyn to Irvine.

 Annika paved the way for Page Turners to be a volunteer-led program. She built the infrastructure to guide volunteers to contribute nearly 4,900 hours in support of the program.  Said another way, every 1 volunteer hour Annika invested it resulted in volunteers contributing another 12 hours.

 She has since trained a new cohort of volunteers to lead Page Turners and is stepping into her next volunteer role with Words Alive – hopefully helping us grow again. We are overjoyed to have Annika in our community – and are a stronger organization for her service.

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Again, Congratulations to Annika, Noshin, Teoman, Zoe, Caleb, and Anika! We appreciate everything you have done for Words Alive. If you are inspired by these volunteers and want to join our team, click here.

Why Mentorship Matters: Thoughts From a WAWS Mentor

This personal essay was written by one of our volunteers, Ameena Vasim! Ameena is a mentor in our Words Alive Westreich Scholarship (WAWS) program, in which we pair graduates from our Adolescent Book Group with mentors and resources as they pursue their higher education goals. Mentoring has played a significant role in Ameena's personal life, so it's a topic that she's passionate about. She shares with us what a mentor is and why mentoring matters.

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Mentors: we have all heard about them. But few of us, including me, have stopped to think about their significance in our lives.

Let’s start from the beginning: the origin of the word “Mentor.” According to Wikipedia, Mentor was a friend of Odysseus. When Odysseus left for the Trojan War, he placed Mentor in charge of his son Telemachus. When Athena visited Telemachus, she took the disguise of Mentor. As Mentor, the goddess encouraged Telemachus to stand up against the suitors and go abroad to find out what happened to his father. Because of Mentor's relationship with Telemachus, and the disguised Athena's encouragement, the name Mentor has been adopted in Latin and other languages, including English, as a term meaning someone who imparts wisdom to and shares knowledge with a less-experienced colleague.

One of my favorite quotes is from Galileo Galilei: “You cannot teach a man anything. You can only help him discover it within himself.” Mentors are people who help us discover what's within us.

The success and accomplishments of my life are largely attributed to my mentors, people who imparted wisdom, shared their knowledge and showed me the ropes. Who are these mentors and where do we find them? Mentors are teachers who help guide us, build our confidence and develop the character required to propel our lives forward in a positive direction. Regular people around us, like our parents, grandparents, a teacher, an elder sibling, a movie actor or even a cartoon character, can all act as mentors in our lives.

The mentor/mentee relationship is nuanced and special. The mentee is the driver in the relationship: they decide the destination and the route to reach it. A mentor, on the other hand, is bringing their expertise to guide the mentee. They are bringing their wisdom to light someone's path. If you don’t know what you want from them, they won’t be able to help you. Every meeting with the mentor needs to have a clear agenda and when you leave the meeting, you should have a list of action items. It is possible that some of these action items would require a considerable amount of time and work and it is also possible that you might hit a wall with them. The objective here is to brainstorm these challenges, work out the kinks and show progress.

Another common misconception is that mentors are primarily for help with education and career. However, our personal lives are not separate from our professional lives; they are integrated and need to be well balanced for us to grow. Be it for personal or professional reasons, the intention to have a better life and to accomplish our goals is one of the drivers to find mentors. There is no shame in asking for help; you will be surprised at people’s willingness to offer it.

So how do you know when you need a mentor? Personally, when I am faced with questions like "What now? Where do I go from here? How do I deal with this?", I know that I need a mentor. But before I look for a mentor, I start by formulating the problem statement clearly in my mind. When we are stuck, our anxiety, uncertainty and the fear of the unknown creates a noise, a fog that can hide the underlying problem. It is important to filter out this noise. I sit with the issue for a few days, and meditate to define it. Once I understand my problem, I do a little research to get more information on the subject. Then I look around in my network to see who I can reach out to.

Drawing an example from my personal life, a few years ago I got a bad rating at work. This impacted my career ambitions. I was not only angry or disappointed, but also confused. From my perspective I did everything right: in my mind I was a hard-working employee who was meeting all the deadlines and doing what was supposed to be done. These negative feelings stayed with me for a while, changing my attitude towards work to a noticeable extent. I discussed this situation with my spiritual mentor and I realized that I was allowing this anger, disappointment and confusion to blur the actual problem. I got too wrapped up in the symptoms and lost the focus on the actual cause. I meditated and defined my problem statement clearly. I arranged for a meeting with my senior manager.

When I walked into her office, I was calm and I had a clear agenda. I said, “I take full responsibility for the ratings that I got this year. There are definitely gaps that are blocking me from moving forward. Unless I know these gaps, I won’t be able to rectify them. I need help and guidance; perhaps a mentor who can provide a different perspective?” There were no complaints, no mention of any disappointments, just a well-articulated problem with an intention of seeking next steps. She referred me to a mentor. I not only got the best rating the corresponding year but in a couple years I got promoted.

I don’t think there is any accomplished person on this planet who did not have a mentor. The technology at our fingertips has made it very easy to learn on your own. If anything, we are drowning in information. However, we can all benefit from surrounding ourselves with people, who might not teach us information, but rather help us discover the talents, passions, and strengths within ourselves.

So, next time you are struggling with a problem, reflect on whether or not a mentor might be able to help you. Take that first step of defining your problem statement, embrace the possibility of mentorship, and then see which doors you might be able to open with mentors to guide your way.

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As a WAWS mentor and the author of this post, Ameena beautifully illustrates the importance of mentorship. All of these reasons she’s explained (and more!) and the same reasons we are so adamant about providing our scholars with mentorship—we recognize that not everyone has equal access to caring people who can serve as mentors, and we want to ensure that our scholars have that opportunity. Mentors help our scholars discover their strengths and passions, share new perspectives on their challenges, guide them through tough decisions, and perhaps most importantly, encourage professional and personal growth. Learn more about our scholars and how you can support them here.