Meet the People Who Make LNNY Great
Recent Success Stories
Florence, a native of Nigeria, passed the citizenship test in August 2021 and became a U.S. citizen. Florence worked with two tutors to study for the citizenship exam. A hard worker, Florence attends our classes at Fort Drum and in Watertown. Florence also takes a quilting course at Fort Drum.
Florence also received a gift card for excellent attendance in the Fort Drum Intermediate class.
Nikki, who attended our ESL classes, graduated from the nursing program at Jefferson Community College in spring 2021. She passed the NCLEX nursing exam in August 2021. Niki, who purchased a house in Watertown, gives back to LNNY by encouraging her Chinese friends to attend our ESL classes. She accepted a position at Samaritan and is studying for her BScN.
Rosa, a soldier in the military who works on English pronunciation in our ESL class, obtained an associate’s degree in business.
Gernique improved her English language skills and obtained a full-time job processing insurance claims at Samaritan Medical Center. She took an online ESL course through the University of Maryland.
Paer, who started attending ESL classes in January 2020, struggled to speak a sentence in English. Now she is quite fluent and plans to attend Jefferson Community College in fall 2021. Her goal is to become a dental hygienist. Paer currently works as an au pair. She has recruited others to attend English classes.
Carolina passed the TOEFL test that she took on August 9 and now has her degree from Colombia in International Business. She is taking graduate courses in International Marketing.
Chayne improved her English skills, obtained a job and is attending Jefferson Community College.
Walter improved his English skills, obtained his driver’s license and got a job. He also took an online course for behavior technician/medical office work. In fall 2020, Walter spoke to our state legislators as part of LNNY’s advocacy efforts to obtain long-delayed state contract funds. He has become friends with another person in class who was going through a divorce and had to move. Walter and his spouse helped the classmate locate another apartment and assisted with the move.
Maricela improved her reading and math skills by several levels. She can now help her children with homework. Maricela’s goal is to obtain her high school equivalency diploma. A native of Mexico, Maricela translates for migrant workers during doctor appointments and Emergency Room visits. She has also gone to the hospital with several pregnant migrant workers and helped them through childbirth. Maricela obtained a full-time job in June 2021 working at a chicken farm.~W., a student who worked with Cecilia, passed the TASC test and received her High School diploma.
~N. started his first semester at JCC and passed all of his Courses.
Past Success Stories
~Jason passed his high school equivalency test in October 2019 after working with his tutor for two years. He became a lot more optimistic about life when he saw how much he was improving. He recently took up playing the guitar again and has been working hard to improve his skills. While he has held a variety of part-time jobs over the years, he hopes to get a better, full-time job now that he has his high school diploma. Jason now has career goals. He enrolled in Jefferson Community College in January 2020 and plans to get a two-year degree in computer information technology.
~Pierre worked on health and work-related vocabulary. He improved his English language skills, obtained his driver’s license and obtained a full-time job.
~Kristina improved her English skills. She spoke to the United Way site visit committee in August 2019 about how LNNY helped her. She obtained a job at H&R Block.
~Jacqueline got a job at Wal-Mart.
~Ava has obtained her driver’s license, works full-time as a manager of a nail salon, and is now studying to become a U.S. citizen.
~Clara improved her English skills by three levels during the three years she attended classes at LNNY and obtained a job as a teacher’s aide at Jeff-Lewis BOCES.
~Juan improved his writing skills and plans to enroll in Jefferson Community College in the summer.
~Maricela has improved her literacy skills by several levels. She helps her third grade son with homework and attends school activities.
These students are now attending Jefferson Community College
~Iria, a Fort Drum ESL student, went up a literacy level and began attending Jefferson Community College in the fall 2018
~Leticia, another student from the Fort Drum ESL classes, went up four literacy levels and started at Jefferson Community College in the fall 2018.
~Roksanna went up two literacy levels and was accepted at Jefferson Community College in the fall 2018. She also attended ESL classes at Fort Drum.
~Freshta, who is one of our former students, is attending Jefferson Community College. She was the featured Jefferson Community College Honors Program student in November 2018. Freshta is a business administration major. She completed a nine-step accounting cycle as an honors option. Her tutors, Mary and Doug Anderson, helped her with improving math skills so she could enter Jefferson Community College.
US Citizenship
~Brenda, a native of Ecuador, became a U.S. citizen in the fall of 2018. She attends ESL classes at Fort Drum.
CDL Training and Driver’s License
~Cem obtained his Commercial Driver’s License and entered a training program to drive commercial vehicles. He is a Fort Drum ESL class alumnus.
~Anna improved her literacy skills and obtained her Driver’s License.She used to rely upon her husband to drive her to class but now she drives herself when he is busy working. Anna attends ESL classes twice per week, along with her husband.
This student is now passing his course at BOCES with the help of his tutor.
~Ryan, who had been failing the weekly reading tests at his welding course, obtained a tutor who helped him comprehend the course material and he passed the first half of the course
And More …
~Edith obtained a Driver’s Licence and has improved her English language She also designs and sews her own clothing line.
~Maricella is involved in her son’s school program and takes pride in reading and understanding letters and notes from his teacher.
~Mariely went to her daughter’s parent-teacher conference and the teacher commented that she is speaking and understanding English better.
Edith Nebie is a Literacy of Northern New York language student working with our agency to improve both her spoken and written English skills. Her tutor is Carla Haas, a retired school social worker for Jefferson-Lewis BOCES. Edith and her husband Babou reside in Watertown with their three daughters: Grace, age 12; Clavery, age 9; and Mathel, age 4. Grace and Clavery attend local schools in the Immaculate Heart system. Edith and her daughters visit Edith’s family home, the African country of Burkina Faso, and Grace’s and Clavery’s birth place, during summer school vacation.
However, this Christmas there was a change in routine. Edith Nebie and her three daughters made a December 2018 trip to Burkina Faso.
The Nebie sisters, having been to Burkina Faso and listening to their
parents, family and African friends talk, became aware that fresh drinking water was extremely limited in the small rural village of Sekeni, Burkina Faso. Mrs. Nebie’s aunt and her grandmother, as well other members of Mrs. Nebie’s extended family, are Sekeni villagers.
Grace Nebie, with the help of younger sister Clavery, worked to obtain sufficient money not only to have water located by a local water finder (a dowser) with his divining rod, but to have drilling equipment brought to the site to drill the well. The project was recorded by a documentary film maker; and Grace was interviewed by a reporter for the national Burkina Faso television network. As a local village elder noted, “There is no life without water”. The joy the villagers displayed when they had fresh water to use and no longer had to make a perilous climb down a steep embankment to fetch and carry less than pristine water was truly heartwarming.