The Power of Education
Gabriela Maria Skinner
To be exceptional is to make a difference in our community and society at large. In my opinion, the beginning of changing a society for the better starts with children, as they are our future. For this reason I decided to interview Juliya Wicklund, who is the manager of America Reads through the Ginsberg Center. This is a tutoring organization that connects students at the University of Michigan with students from Detroit and Ann Arbor Public Schools. The Michigan students tutor, inspire and act as role models for these children. The Michigan students typically work with the students once or twice a week, focusing on literacy and exploring the challenges and joys of reading. As the manager, Juliya runs the training program for the tutors, overseas placements, checks in with schools, helps generate and organize lesson plans, and handles any issues that arise. Additionally, as both a mother and a refugee from the former Soviet Union (now Ukraine), she feels a personal connection to the importance of education. She also volunteers and organized a non-profit to help the Ukrainian people during the war.
Gabriela: Thank you so much for meeting with me! My first question was what lead you to be interested in education
Juliya: That’s a great question. I studied to be a teacher. I studied to be a middle and high school teacher and I was interested in education due to my own experience in education. I know education has the power to change the world, to create stronger democracies and to create more peace. My own experiences lead me to become a teacher since I came here as a refugee from the former Soviet Union, which is now Ukraine. I had some shaky foundational experiences in education, especially when we came here I didn’t know English. I didn’t always feel supported in my identity, culture and language background. I had a really hard time in this education system because of my background. Until I figured out how to be in this new culture it was a struggle. I also had some great teachers who supported me and believed in me, they taught me to be more confident in myself and showed me a lot of love and compassion. I wanted to be able to do that for other children. As a mom now, I really know how important education can be. That’s the basis of why I went into education, I can probably talk about this for a few days because I think the foundations of a strong and thriving community start with good thriving schools. This role was intriguing to me because I believe the community has an obligation to its community to shower its children with love and opportunities, along with the belief they will succeed and excel. This is what drew me to the AR position.
Juliya previously obtained a masters in education from the University of Michigan’s School of Education, which makes her highly qualified for her management position at the America Reads Program.
Gabriela: Thank you for sharing that. I also started in ESL since we spoke Spanish at home and struggled with that a lot. This is the reason I got involved with America Reads’ What do you feel specifically about America Reads makes it a good cause? Beyond education helping children at large how do you feel America Reads through the Ginsberg Center specifically helps the community.
America Reads makes a special effort to accommodate children who have a language barrier, often referencing bilingual authors or tailoring students’ lesson plans to their comfortability with English. Just this year, I have seen many children who started off as Second-Language learners excel in their ease at speaking English with peers, which allows them to participate in class more fully and confidently.
Juliya: So going back to what I had been saying about what drew me to this opportunity to begin with is my idea that it takes a village. Children who are supported by their communities thrive, have more opportunities for a better future and we strengthen our communities in that way too. There are many benefits to both the children and to the college students who are forming connections and bonds with younger children and their community. These college students are growing into their leadership skills, growing in confidence, growing in understanding that they are part of this community too. As someone who’s older, it’s also a part of their obligation to help raise this village and provide children with opportunities that will affect them for the rest of their lives. Literacy in particular is such a powerful factor in determining the opportunities that people have in the world. Literacy is access. Literacy is power. Children who are behind in literacy don’t have the same opportunities to access other learning. This can affect children later when applying for jobs or college.
Juliya: Additionally, it is so foundational to our democracy. Our citizens need to be educated, they need to be able to read and not just read but sort through misinformation and misleading information. Only, then they can be part of voting and making good choices for our world and the society we want to have. So it’s a pretty powerful program and I’m excited I have an opportunity to make some kind of difference in helping this community.
Gabriela: I totally agree. The point about raising a village I really like since when I first got to Michigan it was really easy to feel very separate from the Ann Arbor community. As a student you kind of live in a ‘college-bubble’ and don’t really interact with people who aren’t other young adults or your professor. I felt that when I started my first year with America Reads one of the moms came up to me at the end of the year and thanked me for everything we did and explained how hard it had been for her daughter to catch up after the pandemic. It really hit me then how big of an impact we can have through education.
Juliya: Yeah for sure, and those foundational years for children are so crucial. We don’t even realize how interacting with a child for several months on a consistent basis can impact their life trajectory forever. We think about that with ourselves when we reflect on our childhoods, it’s the way that certain moments and people made a deep impact on us or a deep groove for ourselves to follow a certain path.
Gabriela: Great insight. If you could envision a future that was better, specifically relating to children and education, what would that future entail?
Juliya: That’s a great question and pretty substantial. If I could envision a different future for children in education and literacy to start I think schools need to be places of love and comfort. When students go into spaces and know something about them will make them an outcast, or not be loved in the same way as someone else who might look different or who might have different parts of their identity that are more mainstream, those students shut down. If a student is shut down, learning will not happen in the way that we want it to. Schools as systems need to change, and teachers need to be valued for the work that they do. Teacher preparation programs need to re-emphasize and re-teach how to make learning accessible to every child. That’s bigger than I can even explain, accessibility is such a loaded word and there are so many layers to that.
Juliya: I would also say that because schools reflect and influence our society, if I want to envision a world that is peaceful and that is loving and thriving, those values need to come from schools. I remember during one of my graduate school classes I read a book about how curriculum can be militarized and how it has been throughout history, just subtle messages students are exposed to on a daily basis are so powerful that they can lead to a society that is destructive and falls prey to disinformation and falls prey to authoritarianism or a society that is thriving and has a functional democracy where many voices are heard. And there is peace. I believe a lot of this begins with helping children achieve literacy at an early age because that helps them to feel a part of the literate world. There are many adults who are illiterate or partially illiterate in our world who cannot fully participate in our society. At the end of the day that is too bad for us, since we are missing out on a contribution from a large group of people.
Gabriela: I would definitely agree with that. I went to a middle school that was very small and was very focused on social / community learning, rather than being more academically heavy at a young age. In my opinion that built a foundation for me to be interested in academics. They had the 4 C’s they always talked about; cooperation, compassion, courtesy, and consideration. It sounds really cliche but I do feel I integrated that into my life as an adult.
Juliya: Yeah I mean those early years are so fundamental, we know now that what we are exposed to can have a huge impact. Nature is powerful but nurture can have a very deep impact on people as well. I believe in the growth mindset, obviously as an educator, I believe people can change and grow so the things we learn and are exposed to when we are young makes such a huge difference. If children are hearing messages that they’re bad or that they can’t, they’ll internalize that. Even if those messages are super subtle. I always made sure to find, as a teacher, something to praise as a student. Even the hardest ones that would drive me crazy, because there is something beautiful about everyone and it’s our job to find that. We can see the horrible ramifications of a society not supporting students’ mental and emotional well-being every day unfortunately.
Gabriela: I’m glad I’m doing this project because it’s making me more inspired to be a better 826 leader. A few of my kids had really impacted me, 5th graders picked a topic about self love for their poem. Their lines were really insightful and impressive considering their age.
Juliya: I hope girls are internalizing those messages, we have to model it too. When we bring college students into classrooms you serve as role models for the children who see you and see something they can aspire to be. Secondly, for a lot of these kids college might not have even been in the peripheral view. So when they meet college students they might question and consider that more. The work is super important. I would never underestimate the impact that you can have on a child.
Gabriela: So my last question for you, when I was scrolling through your profile on the America Reads Website I found some other philanthropies you had worked on in the past. Would you mind talking about that a little more?
Juliya: So I mentioned to you I am from Ukraine. When the war started friends and I built this organization called Ukraine Trust Chain. We did not think it would become a large-scale organization now encompassing over 800 volunteers in Ukraine and around 30 plus volunteers in the US. It has gotten quite big and the idea behind it is we want to serve as a connection between aid that was not actually flowing into Ukraine at the start of the war even though people were donating a lot to big organizations and really well established international non-profits but that wasn’t really reaching people on the ground who were trying to evacuate. A lot of them did not know where to go or what would become of their lives. We built this Chain of Trust to think about how we could make sure US citizens could trust us to collect money. We registered as an official non-profit organization, we have at this point sent several million dollars to Ukraine that have been utilized by the teams of volunteers we connect with in Ukraine. Everyone that is a part of this project is a volunteer. We bring in food, diapers, formula for babies, and medicine for elderly people. We have evacuated over 48,000 people.
Gabriela: Oh my gosh wow.
Juliya: It shocks us just the same every time. We now support a mobile clinic that is growing that drives around and provides medical, dental and gynecological care for people without access to doctors in towns in Ukraine. We have rebuilt roofs of schools, we support orphanages, we have just brought in hundreds of generators. It’s a large effort, but it’s super important. We’re supporting people who would otherwise be forgotten. I always think that if that were me, I would hope a stranger somewhere was like I care, and would try to help. They may not know me, but we’re all connected as people. If I were a mom there and I didn’t know how I would feed my kids, I would hope there would be someone who was looking out for me somewhere.
Gabriela: I’m really impressed by that because I feel that in college we take so many classes and learn about so many problems in the world but sometimes it feels like I’m not actually doing anything. Or I’m learning about topics and getting passionate about topics but not turning that to action. I think it’s impressive and inspiring that you’re moving towards doing.
Juliya: Yeah I mean when the war started I stood on the Diag with signs. The group over several weeks started to dwindle. At some point it was 1 degree outside and I was the only one out there with my partner and I was just like okay I think this is no longer something beneficial. We need to do something else. I think protesting and writing can be really powerful too though. Part of our US team went to Washington and has been connective with state representatives for months and months. The reality is though there is nothing we can do about the actual war, we can only help people living in it. We cannot stop war, but what we can do, I think, is build a better future by educating children with love and showing them how to create more peaceful and loving societies. Unfortunately that might take some time. We need to spread that message.
Gabriela: I think it’s interesting you’re working with America Reads while also seeing the negative outcomes of what can happen when things don’t work out well and who can get hurt by that.
Juliya: Yeah, we know the toxic results of broken school systems in our own country. Vulnerable populations are further marginalized and lose even more access and power through these broken systems. We don’t have to look at another world or country to see those effects. I started my childhood in the former Soviet Union where education was standardized to such a degree that all the Soviet Republics learned the exact same handwriting. To such an extent that the handwriting is measured by its degree slant and tilt. Every child learned the same information, used the same books, learned the same mis-represented history, the mis-representation of Russia and what it was actually doing to other countries. Schools are really important places.
Gabriela: Wow well I feel I learned a lot. I’m feeling very inspired to make a difference in my community right now.
Juliya: Well you already are! You are one of the leaders in our community. I hope when you walk around you take a moment to recognize that about yourself.
Gabriela: Thank you.
Juliya: There’s all kinds of jobs you can do and you’re doing an important one.
Gabriela: Thank you so much! Well I don’t really have any more questions, but thank you so much for doing this interview with me. I really appreciate it.
Juliya: No problem, good luck, I will come to 826 and see you soon!
Resources:
826 Michigan , https://www.google.com/search?q=826+michigan&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj-nral2Kz9AhXck4kEHQ7SCggQ_AUoAnoECAUQBA&biw=756&bih=730&dpr=2#imgrc=Thr444nmg9W9yM. Accessed 23 Feb. 2023.
“America Reads .” Ginsberg Center , University of Michigan, https://ginsberg.umich.edu/article/america-reads-tutoring-corps. Accessed 23 Feb. 2023.
Google Images , https://www.google.com/search?tbs=simg:CAQSfhp8CxCwjKcIGmAKXggDEibLAc0BzAEjOZgLygG2DskB2AGJJ7U3ojewKJ43hjTdKIc0qzeHJxowVAC_13vrAvW3ZFUF9r4ZS2vzasceo8us_10wRjSt_177XxNlowBTGteZ-lIxvOO2IMlIAQMCxCOrv4IGgoKCAgBEgT2JSM_1DA&q=ukraine+flag&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjK0t2O1az9AhVYkokEHWEJACAQwg56BAgHEAE&biw=756&bih=730&dpr=2#imgrc=NUzoeROAp_doQM&imgdii=NAqiURbkODS5iM. Accessed 23 Feb. 2023.
