ADRIAN — “When are you going?”

César Del Campo-Hernández, a learner at the Adrian Rea Literacy Center, studied that question, which was part of a lesson in his workbook, and copied it onto a piece of paper.

“How would you answer?” asked Doris DeNudt, an administrative assistant at the literacy center who was serving as Del Campo-Hernández’s tutor this particular evening. When he hesitated, she asked another question: “What is the subject?”

“You?” Del Campo-Hernandez replied.

“Yes. Good!”

Del Campo-Hernández, who lives in northwest Ohio, came to the U.S. about 12 years ago from Mexico, where he was a veterinarian. He presently works at an area dairy farm.

When he first arrived in this country, he knew only the most rudimentary English. “I knew ‘hello,’ ‘good morning,’ ‘how are you?’ Just basic things,” he said.  

He started coming to the literacy center two or three years ago because he knew that learning English was important to his success in the U.S. Not only do the people he works with speak English, but even everyday tasks can be a challenge for a non-English speaker. “It’s sometimes difficult when you go to the market or the bank,” he said.

And besides, knowing English will help a person like him “do better and get better jobs,” he added.

The Adrian Rea Literacy Center was founded by the Adrian Dominican Sisters in 2008. It is located on the Adrian Dominican campus at 1257 E. Siena Heights Drive.

Most of its learners are like Del Campo-Hernández: people studying English as a Second Language (ESL). These learners come from all over the world, including not only Mexico but Bolivia, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, South Korea, and Venezuela.

The center also serves learners who are native English speakers but want to learn how to read or to improve the skills they already have.

People who come for tutoring have any number of goals. Some want to be able to move up in their current jobs or get better ones. Some are working to become U.S. citizens. Some want to be able to help their children with their schoolwork and be good role models for them when it comes to education. And some just want to be able to read their kids or grandkids a bedtime story.

Like Del Campo-Hernández, learner Andres Briones hails from Mexico. He worked in California before coming to this area, where he settled in northwest Ohio and works in a large greenhouse operation.

He’s been coming to the literacy center, with his employer’s wholehearted support, since 2019; before that, he attended a program in Wauseon but it was a group experience and he much prefers the Adrian Rea Literacy Center’s one-on-one tutoring.

As he proudly showed off the cutting-edge technology he uses at work and can access right from his smartphone, Briones said he enjoys his job very much and that his company is giving him more and more opportunities because he knows English now.

But there’s another reason learning the language is important to him: he’s a married father of three and “my kids are growing and they speak English,” he said. “I can have moments with them.”

“He’s made great progress. English is so hard,” said his tutor, Joel Rodriguez. Rodriguez has been a tutor at the center for 10 years and has worked with Briones since November 2021.

For Rodriguez, becoming a tutor was something inspired by his own family history. “My mother came from Mexico and she didn’t speak English,” he said. “She got involved with a program where a tutor came to the house. They became lifelong friends. That inspired me,” he said.

And, he said, he’s learning as much from Briones as Briones is learning from him. “My learner is my teacher,” he said, “and he teaches me about my heritage.”

Independent status and a new director

The Adrian Rea Literacy Center is one of six such centers that the Adrian Dominican Sisters have sponsored in Michigan, Illinois, and Florida. All of them are transitioning into becoming independent non-profit entities, which will give them greater ability to collaborate with other local organizations. The Adrian center recently got its own 501(c)(3) status.

In a statement provided by the Congregation, Prioress Elise D. García, OP, said, “We have deep appreciation, respect, and gratitude for the extraordinary work our literacy centers have done over the past 30-plus years.

“We are enormously proud of this educational initiative and of all the Sisters, Associates, and Co-workers who have been and continue to be involved in this vital and needed ministry. It gives us great joy that Adrian Rea Literacy Center will thrive into the future providing critical and needed adult learning services in Lenawee County and the surrounding area.” 

In addition to this change in status, the Adrian Rea Literacy Center recently underwent a leadership change. Rhea Staniszewski became its new executive director this summer after longtime director Sister Carleen Maly, OP, had to step down for health reasons.

A native of rural Minnesota who earned a Master of Social Work degree with a focus on community organization and non-profit management from the University of Denver, Staniszewski and her husband, Brent, moved to Michigan in 2013 to be nearer to family once they had their first child. The couple now has three children, aged 14, 11, and 8. The family has lived in Lenawee County since 2019.

“I worked a lot with volunteers in various capacities, and that’s what drew me [to the literacy center],” she said. “I’m really inspired by volunteers, that they take time to come in and make a tangible difference in someone’s life.”

In just her few weeks at the center, she’s found it to be a place where learners and tutors become a family. “People really care about each other and they want the best outcomes for each other,” she said.

It’s also a place that celebrates its learners’ accomplishments. Those who move up a level have a ceremony and get a certificate. “And how much that means to the individual,” she said, citing the example of one man who couldn’t wait to take his certificate home to show his dad. Those who attain U.S. citizenship get a party complete with a banner and cake.

Quite a few of the volunteers have been with the center for a decade or more, according to Sister Joanne McCauley, OP, a tutor and administrative assistant.

McCauley, who ministered as a teacher for many years, much of that time working with dyslexic children, has been part of the staff herself since 2011, and — echoing what Rodriguez said about Briones — said she learns from the learners.

“I really see what their lives are like,” she said.

Tutors wanted

The center always welcomes new volunteer tutors as well as new learners. Tutors receive the training and support they need to work with learners, so no prior teaching experience is required. All instruction is in English.

What tutors should be, according to the job description, is flexible, friendly, patient, and optimistic, and have a sense of humor. Each tutor meets with their learner two hours a week.

The next tutor training takes place from 1-4:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 27. To register or to learn more, email Staniszewski at director@adrianrealiteracy.org or visit www.adrianrealiteracy.org.