The adults and children are in small groups playing games using letters of the alphabet, shapes, colors and sounds. Words of encouragement and laughter fill the room while young faces light up with excitement and the children build strong foundations for reading.

The liberal studies students are in their first semester of a yearlong program that trains future educators in how best to teach reading and writing to children, including at-risk learners and those with special needs.

Cal State Northridge’s Literacy Scholars for the Future of Los Angeles program, now in its fourth year, targets those children who are at risk for falling behind academically because they live in poverty, who come from families where English is a second language spoken at home, whose families are new immigrants or who have unrecognized learning disabilities.

The program’s impact has been recognized nationally. Last year, it received a $35,000 grant from Oprah’s Angel Network for the 2009-2010 academic year.

“We tend to think that kids just learn to read and write in school without giving any thought to how that happens,” said Elizabeth Adams, associate dean of the College of Humanities and coordinator of the Literacy Scholars program. “But we all don’t learn the same way at the same time, nor do we all have the same obstacles to overcome while we are trying to learn to read and write.

“What this program does is give teachers a set of skills and the knowledge to use them effectively so that they can truly make a difference in a kid’s life,” Adams said.

The liberal studies students taking part in the program, many of whom plan to go on and get a teaching credential, complete a specialized concentration that includes courses that focus on specific aspects of literacy, including the significant role of language itself as well as what happens in the brain when a child learns, and a field placement working with emerging readers and writers.

The students work with 15-20 kindergartners the first semester and more than 40 kindergartners during the second semester. Integral to the experience is the constant feedback the CSUN students receive from not only their professors, but also the teachers and families of the children they work with.

Special education professor Sue Sears and English professor Sharon Klein, who together oversee the first semester’s practical experience, said the time at the Lab School is important as the Literacy Scholars begin to develop the skills they need to become effective teachers.

“They are working with a variety of children with a wide range of abilities,” Klein said. “At the Lab School, which is a controlled environment here on the campus, there are children with disabilities and there are children already beginning to read.”

Sears said the diversity forces the Literacy Scholars to realize that they are going to have to be flexible-that what worked with one child may not work with another.

The school’s kindergarten teacher, her teaching assistants, the school’s inclusion specialist and Sears and Klein are on hand to offer guidance and support. When the liberal studies students return to their classroom, Sears, Klein, the kindergarten teacher and inclusion specialist offer feedback on how well their “lessons” with the children went.

This initial training is crucial to prepare the students for the spring semester of the program, when associate professor of Chicano/a studies Rosa Furumoto pairs them up with kindergartners and their families in the community.

“The impact the program has can be incredible, particularly when our students get into the home setting and find themselves working with families that don’t speak English at home or have other cultural issues or the children have undiagnosed learning disabilities,” Adams said. “Our students can see directly what the issues are, including adult literacy issues, that can have an impact on a child learning to read and write.”

By the time the students finish the Literacy Scholars program, Adams said, they should have the tools and the ability to react with patience and flexibility when working with children from a variety of backgrounds and help them on the road to reading.

Those are skills Adams and her colleagues hope graduates of the program will share with their peers as they become professional educators.

“They have tools they know work, and they can share them with other teachers, who in turn can also put those tools into practice and then share what they have learned,” Adams said. “The gift of reading truly can’t be matched. Once a child learns how to read and experiences the joy of opening a book and discovers the magic of the words on the page, there is no stopping him or her.”

The first town hall was held last week at Meet Each Need with Dignity (MEND) in Pacoima. Working in collaboration with ICON, approximately 30 community members met. Topics of discussion included food security, mental and physical health, education, housing and financial literacy concerns.

“CSUN hopes to get the information provided by the community and assess and analyze these needs in hoping to better serve them,” said Merri Whitelock, managing director of CSUN’s Community Engagement program.

The meetings are funded through a grant from the SURDNA Foundation by the CSU Chancellor’s Office’s Center for Community Engagement. “The town hall meetings are part of the CSU Initiative encouraging each campus to meet with their community members and leaders with the goals of working system-wide to obtain grants for the California State University to address common concerns and to focus individual campuses on better meeting the needs of their immediate community.”

Among the speakers at the first meeting were Merri Whitelock, Amir Hessam Fassihi, co-executive director of ICON, and CSUN student representatives Laura Alcantara, Celina Alcocer and Angelica Delgado.

The second town hall meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, Dec. 8, from 9 to 11 a.m. at the San Fernando Mental Health Center and is being sponsored in partnership with Valley Non-Profit Resources (VNR). It will focus on serving the population with mental health concerns examining issues of availability of services and resources and discussing additional needs for those in our community coping with mental illness themselves or with a family member.

Among those invited are mental health professionals, consumers, family members and policymakers. They will discuss current challenges and opportunities of mental health services in the San Fernando Valley.

The meetings are free and open to the public. For more information and to RSVP, contact Diana Medina Wiley at dianahiri@aol.com or at (818) 990-0176.

Some of the CHIME students with their new instruments.

The foundation gave the schools 20 instruments, including flutes, a clarinet, saxophones, trumpets, trombones and drums.

“The people at the foundation were so amazing and generous,” said Kelly O’Brien, music teacher at CHIME Institute’s Arnold Schwarzenegger Charter Elementary School and CHIME Charter Middle School. “The instruments they gave us will enhance the quality of our programs and provide our students a chance to play quality instruments, particularly those students who might not otherwise have been able to because of financial concerns.”

The foundation was recently formed by the Collateral Loan and Secondhand Dealers Association (CLSDA), which serves the pawn industry in California through programs, education, information and legislative advocacy.
“Pawnbrokers are the front line for receiving musical instruments and are ideally suited to be the main thrust behind the success of this innovated foundation,” said CLSDA President Robert Verhoeff. “As a result, the generosity of the California pawn community comes through to help schools in need. We see this as just the beginning of what can be accomplished through this foundation.”

O’Brien said she was particularly touched when Verhoeff took the time to talk to the CHIME school children at the presentation ceremony about the important role music played in his life.

“He went out of his way to talk to the kids about how learning music helped shape his life and helped contribute to his success even though he didn’t become a musician,” she said. “Those kind of messages are really important for our students to hear.”

Jennifer Lockwood, principal of the middle school, agreed, adding that the foundation’s gift of the instruments would make a positive difference in her school’s and the elementary school’s music programs.

“The music program is a valuable asset to both schools,” Lockwood said. “We feel very strongly that music is an integral part of the education of the whole child. This gift helps us ensure that our students have the opportunity to explore the wonders music can bring to life.”

CHIME Charter Middle School in Chatsworth and its sister campus, the CHIME Institute’s Arnold Schwarzenegger Charter Elementary School in Woodland Hills, are independent schools that provide free public education through affiliation with the Los Angeles Unified School District. The schools serve as demonstration and teacher-training sites for Cal State Northridge’s Michael D. Eisner College of Education.

Both schools are part of the CHIME Institute, located in part at Cal State Northridge, which is a national leader in developing and implementing model educational programs and dynamic research and training environments to disseminate best practices in inclusive education. The institute’s research and training center is housed in the Eisner College of Education. The institute also offers an infant/toddler program and a preschool/kindergarten inclusion program that is located at CSUN. CHIME has been recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as a national model for full inclusion of students with disabilities and for providing a blueprint for local schools across the country.

The money supports “The College Can Happen” initiative, which will serve 4,000 educationally disadvantaged middle and high school students and their parents through the 2009-2010 academic year.

“The majority of the funding will be used to hire CSUN Student Outreach interns who will go out into local middle schools and high schools to give individual and group presentations to students and parents throughout the academic year,” said Dwayne Cantrell, associate director of Student Outreach and Recruitment Services. “Funds will also be used to provide transportation to bring students and their parents to Cal State Northridge.”

The presentations will explore the process of getting into a four-year college. The student interns give the middle and high school students and their parents information about the many services that are available for getting into and paying for a four-year college, including Free Application for Federal Student Aid and scholarships.

The Citi Foundation is committed to the economic empowerment of individuals and families, particularly those in need. It fulfills this mission by providing grant support for programs that are aligned with its priority focus areas, promote collaboration and effective use of philanthropic resources, engage our employees, and demonstrate impact and positive outcomes. It is particularly interested in supporting program innovations in the following priority focus areas: microfinance and microenterprise, small and growing businesses, education, financial education and asset building and community development.

In addition, the Citi Foundation works with its partners in its priority focus areas of Microfinance and Microenterprise, Small and Growing Businesses and Community Development to support environmental innovations and embed a “green” component within key areas of their work.

Student Outreach and Recruitment Services provides outreach and recruitment to students at over 100 high schools, 22 community colleges and various middle and elementary schools in the Southern California area. It also serves as the clearinghouse for university information and inquiries stemming from perspective students. Student Outreach collaborates on local and statewide parent college awareness initiatives.

President Jolene Koester, Vice President for University Advancement Vance T. Peterson and Alumni Association President Tammy Tolgo saluted Detchemendy, Kelly and 20 other dedicated volunteers.

“This luncheon is about saying thank you to all of you for your selfless service to Cal State Northridge,” said Koester. President Koester said she hopes the volunteer work further “binds” the award recipients to the university and provides “personal sustenance.”

The Dorothea “Granny” Heitz Award for Outstanding Volunteer Leadership, honoring alumni or friends of the university who serve CSUN as outstanding volunteer role models, was presented to Detchemendy, who is among the university’s most loyal and dedicated alumni supporters.

A university donor and Alumni Association lifetime member, Detchemendy, who graduated from CSUN in 1984 with a degree in marketing, has actively supported the university through his nearly 15 years of service as a member of the Board of Directors of the California State University, Northridge Alumni Association.

He served as the association’s 24th president in 2004-06 during a key period of growth for the organization. Simultaneously, he served on the CSUN Foundation Board of Directors. He continues to serve as a voting member of the alumni board.

Detchemendy also traveled to Sacramento to lobby for the university’s needs with state legislators. Volunteering considerable time to CSUN athletics, he spent multiple terms on the President’s Advisory Board on Intercollegiate Athletics and served as the alumni representative on NCAA compliance committees.

He serves on the board of the CSUN Center for Real Estate Advisory Council, and on the Real Estate Outlook Committee for the San Fernando Valley Economic Summit, which CSUN has co-hosted with the Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley for the past four years. He currently conducts a mock anchor tenant negotiation each year in conjunction with professor Donald Bleich’s Honors Real Estate program in the business college.

Kelly was awarded the Dean Ed Peckham Award (formerly known as the Emeriti Merit Award). The award was renamed in honor of Peckham who retired in 1991 as vice president of student affairs after working at CSUN for 24 years.

Since arriving at San Fernando Valley State College in 1969, Kelly has provided key leadership in developing and implementing an innovative interdisciplinary major in child development. She established a legacy as a valued teacher and continues to mentor students and alumni and provide leadership as an emeritus professor.

Kelly initiated the Peace Expo at CSUN, drawing over 5,000 participants. She has served as a representative for the United States to the International Federation of Educative Communities (FICE) and to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Kelly also served as senior consultant for International Year of the Family through the United Nations in Vienna during a 1993 sabbatical. She also is a past recipient of the CSUN Distinguished Teacher Award and has been inducted into the Ohio Women’s Hall of Fame.

Since her retirement, Kelly has continued to provide service to the university. With her guidance, the Child and Adolescent Development Alumni Chapter was reactivated. The chapter has offered career development and mentor programs for both alumni and undergraduates.

Also honored for their volunteer work were:

College Recipients
Bruce Rosenblum, Mike Curb College of Arts, Media, and Communication
Carl Raggio, College of Business and Economics
Vaughn Cable, College of Engineering and Computer Science
Nancy Owens, College of Health and Human Development
LeRoy Nyquist, College of Science and Mathematics
Janet Bryant, College of Social and Behavioral Sciences
Philip Browning, Tseng College of Extended Learning

University Recipients
Eleanor Baxter, Arts Council
Kevin Bailey and James Forsyth, Athletics
Ann “The Raven” Dolan, KCSN Radio
Jim Dole, Oviatt Library
Arthur Fass, Student Affairs Chapter
Mona Fletcher, Valley Performing Arts Center/Plaza del Sol Performance Hall

Alumni Chapter Recipients
Leadman Yep, Accounting and Information Systems Alumni Association
Marta Gonzalez, Child and Adolescent Development Alumni Chapter
Lorraine Sedlak, Environmental and Occupational Health Alumni Chapter
Dimitrios Alexiou, Health Administration Alumni Chapter
Laura (Estay) Prince, Journalism Alumni Association
Kurt Rayners, MBA Alumni Chapter