400+ Learning Leaders School Volunteers Celebrate

Learning Leaders, the city-wide public school volunteer organization, convened its annual Queens Borough Recognition Ceremony at St. Johns University recently. The event featured Learning Leaders who shared their experiences in the city's schools this past year and exhorted their fellow volunteers to keep up their incredible work.

One volunteer, Carol Torres, a parent at PS 101 in District 28 and a police officer, spoke about her daughter who was having a lot of difficulty in school. Torres worked the night shift and only saw her daughter for an hour each day. Then, a Learning Leader began working with her daughter twice a week and she learned to read. In an emotional and moving speech Torres remarked, “I can now sit with her and she can read an entire book to me.” She cried as she thanked the volunteers for what they do to help children.

Additional speakers included Teri Thomson, Queens representative on the Board of Education and new New York City Councilmen Tony Avella, Allan Jennings and James Gennaro. The officials thanked Learning Leaders for their hard work and commitment. Councilman Jennings remarked that he was so impressed by the work of the volunteers “that I am in favor of increased funding for Learning Leaders.”

“This has been a difficult year for many children and for the school system”, said Carol Kellermann, Executive Director of Learning Leaders. “Our year-end ceremonies provide a much-needed chance for volunteers to celebrate and talk to each other and feel the encouragement and support of hundreds of their fellow Learning Leaders.”

This year, 11,000 trained Learning Leaders volunteers (75 percent of them parents of public school children) are working with over 165,000 NYC public school students in 780 New York City public schools.#

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