April 30, 2015

Building trust and confidence

Matt Groshong is a native of the Pacific Northwest and the former dean of Bellevue College.  Upon retiring, Matt knew he wanted to get involved in service work that would celebrate diversity and help empower low-income families. In his words, “Reading Partners [is] the only program I found that [has] a professional curriculum to guide me since I have no experience as a reading tutor. The curriculum allows me to relax, feel competent and know that I am truly helping my student grow as a reader.”

Since beginning his work with Ali, Matt has been making a tremendous impact on Ali’s confidence, inference skills, and love of reading. After seeing Matt repeatedly show up for him, Ali began to challenge himself more. He expressed an interest in reading a more challenging book, Harry Potter. Through Matt’s encouragement, Ali proceeded to check out the book from the library and spent the next two days reading 100 pages! Ali reported back to Matt during their next session and they were able to celebrate this accomplishment together.

Matt’s positivity, warmth, and charisma are only a few of the qualities that make him an exceptional reading partner.