National Adult Literacy Database

August 13, 2007

The following story was written by Cathy Cumby, from Edmonton, Alberta. Cathy was part of BLAST: Student Speakers Bureau from Literacy Alberta. This team is a group of literacy students who were trained to become professional speakers. Cathy is enrolled in the Alternative Learning Program of the Edmonton John Howard Society. She is a single mother and hopes other children are as happy as hers are.

Story (Part II of II)

by Cathy Cumby

Whenever you get down on yourself, there is always someone telling you that you can do it. When I wrote my first thesis, my teacher told me that she was proud of me; I’d never had any teacher tell me that they were proud of me before. I remember when my daughter was going to her grade 9 prom, I didn’t have the money to go, and Terri herself gave me the money. I feel honored to be here, I have self confidence and my self esteem has improved. And this wouldn’t have been possible without the tutors and the teachers at ALP.

I have come such a long way and I thank God that this place is here. I feel like I’m somebody for the first time in my life. I can walk down the street with my head held high. There should be more schools like this out there. I’m proud of myself and of what I have become. It took determination and encouragement from all of the teachers, tutors, and my mentor. But also, it took a lot for me to come here. I just want one person to listen to my story and learn from it.

Now I love school. Since I’ve been here I have a 97% in English 11/12 and passing Math. I am now getting ready to take my English 30 diploma so I can take a 2 year program at Grant MacEwan for Youth work so I can start my dream of being able to help youth in crisis for I am so loving and understanding and I have been there myself.

My biggest fan though is my 15 year old daughter Donna who has never given up on me and tells me everyday how proud she is of me and tells others that too. So if my story can just help one person to understand how important an education is then this has been all worth it. Thank you for letting me share my experiences with you.

Thank you.

Part 1