For Juan, Indy Reads’ Community Classrooms are a family affair:

Juan and his family migrated to the United States from Spain pursuing better opportunities in America, but it wasn’t long before Juan’s mother realized her challenges in reading and writing would hold her back.

She enrolled in the donor-powered Community Classrooms literacy program, and began the immersive work of learning not just phonetics and letters, but also new tactics for learning and understanding words on the page.

Her hard work began to show quickly, and she encouraged Juan to enroll in Indy Reads’ English language learners program, or ELL, to sharpen his skills, too. He took right to it.

“In Spain, I did not take school seriously because I thought I would be good enough to play on a professional soccer team,” Juan said. “I did not think about having my education.”

Just a few months later, Juan’s conversational English has improved substantially, and he’s earned an academic scholarship to begin studies this fall! He’s also been inspired to begin volunteering in a literacy program, saying, “I want to volunteer to help somebody else like they helped me.”

Indy Reads is proud to partner with IndyGo to support students in the Community Classrooms program. Watch for more student stories in each month’s newsletter, and catch Routes 19, 38, or 39 to visit Indy Reads at the Central Library, or Routes 11 or 21 to visit Indy Reads Books! All route and trip information is available at indygo.net.