Indy Reads
  • ABOUT
    • Our Mission
    • Our Team
    • Board of Directors
    • Sponsors & Partners
    • Latest News
    • Impact
  • PROGRAMS
    • Student Yearbook ’20-’21
    • Customer Service Skills Program
    • Literacy Foundations
    • High School Equivalency Diploma (HSE)
    • English Language Learners (ELL)
      • Want to Learn English?
      • ¿Quieres aprender inglés?
      • အင်္ဂလိပ်စာလေ့လာချင်ပါသလား
      • Veux-tu apprendre l’anglais?
      • هل تريد تعلم اللغة الإنجليزية؟
      • Queres aprender inglês?
    • Certifications
      • Customer Service Certification
      • Paraprofessional Training and Certification
  • BOOKSTORE
    • Hours & Location
    • Shop Online
    • Donate Books
    • Shop Audiobooks
    • Shop Merch
    • Consignment
  • GET INVOLVED
    • Join Our Team
    • AmeriCorps
    • Volunteer
    • Ways to Give
  • EVENTS
    • Submit an Event
    • Event Calendar
  • CONTACT
    • Prospective Student Form
  • DONATE
  • ABOUT
    • Our Mission
    • Our Team
    • Board of Directors
    • Sponsors & Partners
    • Latest News
    • Impact
  • PROGRAMS
    • Student Yearbook ’20-’21
    • Customer Service Skills Program
    • Literacy Foundations
    • High School Equivalency Diploma (HSE)
    • English Language Learners (ELL)
      • Want to Learn English?
      • ¿Quieres aprender inglés?
      • အင်္ဂလိပ်စာလေ့လာချင်ပါသလား
      • Veux-tu apprendre l’anglais?
      • هل تريد تعلم اللغة الإنجليزية؟
      • Queres aprender inglês?
    • Certifications
      • Customer Service Certification
      • Paraprofessional Training and Certification
  • BOOKSTORE
    • Hours & Location
    • Shop Online
    • Donate Books
    • Shop Audiobooks
    • Shop Merch
    • Consignment
  • GET INVOLVED
    • Join Our Team
    • AmeriCorps
    • Volunteer
    • Ways to Give
  • EVENTS
    • Submit an Event
    • Event Calendar
  • CONTACT
    • Prospective Student Form
  • DONATE
June 18, 2019

Meet our IndyGo Student of the Month – Cleon!

Cleon Indy GO SOM

Students in our Community Classrooms come from a variety of backgrounds and bring their own experiences and perspectives with them. These perspectives contribute to the diverse community environment that make our classrooms unique. This month’s IndyGo Student of the Month, Cleon Bell, brings happiness and optimism to class every week.

Cleon grew up in Jamaica, where he has fond memories of island life with his friends and family. He comes from a large family and has seven siblings — and Cleon is the only one who no longer lives in Jamaica. He loves his family, he says, but his family’s size limited his education options.

“School in Jamaica is not bad,” Cleon explained. “But when you come from a big family, that’s where the problem comes in.” He says if your family can’t afford to send everyone in the house to school, it may just be the oldest siblings who get to go.

Education through primary school (elementary and middle school) is free and accessible in Jamaica for children between the ages of 5 and 12. High school is when families have to pay tuition for their children. If the family has a large number of children, often only a select one or two are able to attend high school and further their education.

“Sometimes kids skip class because they have no money to send you,” Cleon said.

Cleon’s older sisters were already attending high school by the time he got through primary school, and his family couldn’t afford to send him. So he ended his formal education at a young age and began to look for work.

When Cleon was ready to enter secondary school, Jamaica still didn’t have subsidized tuition for high school. Though there are more systems in place to break down financial barriers today, families in the 1980s and 1990s had to make sacrifices.

After leaving school, Cleon was able to grow and learn by working at resorts and picking up odd jobs on the island. It was at one of these resorts where he met his wife, who was in Jamaica on vacation… from Indianapolis.

The two hit it off and eventually got married. For most of their relationship, they lived separately with her visiting Jamaica a few times each year. A few years ago, Cleon’s wife decided that it was time for him to come to the United States permanently.

He knew that once he moved to Indianapolis, he would have the time and resources to finally increase his education.


 “I’m proof: This program works.”


“Before I got here,” he said, “I was always telling my wife, ‘One of the first things I want to do: I want to get more than what I have.’”

As soon as he settled into life in Indianapolis, Cleon and his wife sat down to look up educational resources for him. His wife remembered hearing about Indy Reads, and she knew it was the right way to go. After waiting a couple of months for a spot in the class to open, Cleon went through the orientation and enrollment process and was ready to tackle his education needs.

Eager to learn and grow, Cleon joined the Indy Reads classroom with determination and optimism and has been flourishing since. Indy Reads Instructional/Intake Coordinator, Christina says, “He helps put an ease in the classroom. Whenever there is a new student, I know we can count on Cleon to make them feel welcomed and comfortable. He is always happy to help his teachers too.”

Cleon’s Student navigator, Chris, describes Cleon as a practical but optimistic mentor in the classroom. “He gives good advice about life issues,” Chris says. “His outlook on life is real. He thinks about what will better him and his family life. He shuns the negative.”

“Indy Reads has enlightened me a lot,” Cleon says. “That’s the thing I love about it. I’m proof: This program works.”

Cleon is looking forward to applying to better jobs, working hard toward his dream of starting his own business. “Now I have a stable foundation. I can build and go straight up.”

 

Help students like Cleon get into
a classroom even faster!

CLICK HERE to make a gift or begin a monthly donation
and help even more students reach their full potential!

 


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.

 

2019 Indy Reads Indy Reads Writes IndyGo Student of the Month
Previous StoryIndy Reads Awarded Grant from Dollar General Literacy Foundation
Next StoryMeet Dawt: IndyGo’s Student of the Month!

About

Our mission is to build the literacy, English language, and job readiness skills to empower adults and families to reach their full potential.
 

Upcoming Events

June

July 2022

August
MO
TU
WE
TH
FR
SA
SU
27
28
29
30
1
2
3
Events for June

29th

5:00 pm - 6:30 pm

Spring Financial Literacy Series with Centier Bank

Indy Reads
Events for June

30th

5:00 pm - 7:00 pm

Chess Club with Colin Hargreaves

Indy Reads
Events for July

1st

6:00 pm

First Friday Local Author Alfred Stifsim Book Signing

Indy Reads
Events for July

2nd

No Events
Events for July

3rd

No Events
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Events for July

4th

No Events
Events for July

5th

No Events
Events for July

6th

No Events
Events for July

7th

5:00 pm - 7:00 pm

Chess Club with Colin Hargreaves

Indy Reads
Events for July

8th

No Events
Events for July

9th

No Events
Events for July

10th

No Events
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
Events for July

11th

No Events
Events for July

12th

No Events
Events for July

13th

No Events
Events for July

14th

5:00 pm - 7:00 pm

Chess Club with Colin Hargreaves

Indy Reads
Events for July

15th

No Events
Events for July

16th

No Events
Events for July

17th

11:00 am - 6:00 pm

Helping Hands for Literacy (Volunteer Day!)

Indy Reads
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
Events for July

18th

No Events
Events for July

19th

No Events
Events for July

20th

6:00 pm

Translating Wor(l)ds with Ania Spyra

Indy Reads
Events for July

21st

5:00 pm - 7:00 pm

Chess Club with Colin Hargreaves

Indy Reads
Events for July

22nd

1:00 pm

Spanish for the Community – Lunch and Learn

Indy Reads
Events for July

23rd

No Events
Events for July

24th

No Events
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
Events for July

25th

No Events
Events for July

26th

No Events
Events for July

27th

No Events
Events for July

28th

5:00 pm - 7:00 pm

Chess Club with Colin Hargreaves

Indy Reads
Events for July

29th

No Events
Events for July

30th

2:00 pm

Tony Spataro: My. Mind. Races

Indy Reads
6:30 pm

Poetry Slam & Open Mic with Booth

Indy Reads
Events for July

31st

1:00 pm

July Riot Reads Meeting

Indy Reads
4:00 pm

Mister Rogers is Not Our Savior by Cody Stiglich

Indy Reads
1
2
3
4
5
6
7

WHO WE ARE

  • OUR TEAM
  • BOARD OF DIRECTORS
  • LATEST NEWS
  • CONTACT

WHAT WE DO

  • OUR MISSION
  • PROGRAMS
  • GET INVOLVED

ABOUT US

Indy Reads builds literacy, English language, and job readiness skills to empower adults and families to reach their full potential.

FOLLOW ALONG!

Indy Reads Guidestar
en English
ar Arabiczh-CN Chinese (Simplified)nl Dutchen Englishfr Frenchde Germanit Italianmy Myanmar (Burmese)pt Portugueseru Russianes Spanish