Meet Mina
I arrived in Northwest Arkansas in 2007 from Seoul, South Korea, a city of 20 million. There was quite a bit of culture shock after landing at the XNA airport. In the first 30 minutes of driving, I saw more cows than people. It was green everywhere and there were very few other cars on the road. The first town I passed looked completely empty with hardly anyone on the street. Everything just seemed to be moving at a much slower pace. It was definitely different from what I expected. In Korea, we have this idea of America as being New York or Los Angeles. We never really consider all the places in between.
After taking a short time to adjust, I discovered the Ozark Literacy Council. Even though I had a good base level of English since I received my MA in English Education in Korea, I was seeking ways to improve even more. At that time, OLC only had one class level for English so it was pretty limited. However, I always felt so welcome that it just seemed like a place where I belonged more than anything. So I kept coming back and started helping other students and volunteers because I wanted to do anything I could to give back to this place. When someone feels like they belong, they will do amazing things.
After a short time as a student and volunteer, I was hired as a staff member in 2007. Then, in 2009, I got an offer to be the Program Director. I still remember how excited I was to get the job. It's one thing to have ideas and work hard, but it's another thing altogether to be recognized for those ideas and hard work. Most importantly, I was so thrilled because I had lots of ideas and now I could put those ideas into action. The first thing I did was create 6 different levels of ESL classes so that all our students could be at an appropriate level for their abilities.
Being someone that had to deal with the difficulties of learning a second language, I had a pretty good idea about some things that we could do immediately to help our students. Students felt comfortable with me and shared feedback about the classes and their needs. I was so excited to create these classes that directly helped their needs and to be able to recruit volunteers that could help them achieve their goals.
Gradually, word spread around the community and Ozark Literacy Council became a place that many people new to the community would come to learn and teach English and just to hang out in a comfortable environment. Sometimes it feels like the United Nations with so many people from all over the world discussing their culture and learning in a safe environment.
A sense of community and belonging are not the only things we offer though. We offer a quality program that keeps students motivated to learn so they keep coming back. To improve the quality of our program, we began a partnership with the Americorps Reads program in 2012. The Americorp program allows us to be able to offer classes with not only volunteers, but also one year committed teachers in our community.
The amazing thing is that once our students found out that our teachers are almost entirely volunteers, it opens their eyes to the amazing feeling of what it means to volunteer. Students begin to ask questions like, “Are they really doing this for free?” and “What does volunteer really mean?”. Many of these students come from countries with little concept of volunteerism. It’s really hard for them to conceive of coming to a place early in the morning and volunteering to do all this. So I really saw a need and opportunity to introduce this idea to our students. In 2015, I created a community engagement class for our advanced students. During this class, these students learn everything about volunteering and once they finish one semester they are certified to tutor and help our students within our volunteer program. This is another thing that completely changed the dynamics of our building. It gives them a goal to achieve and something to work for.
I think the true magic of our program is the vague line separating students and volunteers. We are made up of people who are all interested in learning and expanding their horizons. The relationship between tutors, teachers, and students continues to grow outside of the OLC building. Students always tell me they feel so safe at OLC and I think this translates into a general level of comfort with the community.
Students know they have a friend from our community to ask questions and to learn about everything this area has to offer. Our volunteer members invite our students to their community events and into their circle of friends. Everyone involved brings such a unique culture and history to our community. If we all understand each other better, we can resist the urge to stereotype and isolate others who look different. When I first entered the doors of OLC, I knew that it was a special place and I’m certain that it has the potential to be even greater.