Planting The Seed To Read

As a psychiatric nurse in a state mental institution, Debbie Johannson rarely saw the lives of the people she worked with change for the better.

Her second career, in the field of adult literacy, is another story.

“Here I feel successful whenever a seed is planted,” said Johannson, 39, who took over the Learning Center in Kellogg last November. “And whenever you work with someone, you know you’ve planted that seed.”

Then there are the fabulous success stories like the Coeur d’Alene businessman who could barely summon the courage to come in for tutoring, fearing he’d be recognized.

“He found out about us because some of his employees were using the Learning Center. I finally convinced him to come down. After working with a tutor for one year he went from reading at a second-grade level to the 11th-grade level,” Johannson said. “Now he’s working on calculus and writing poetry.”

Johannson served as coordinator of volunteer tutors at North Idaho College’s Learning Center before taking the position in Kellogg.

The move took her from a spacious suite at the college to what she laughingly refers to as the “Learning Closet” - a windowless office about the size of a pantry located in the Steelworker’s Hall. Johannson shares the building with everyone from miners and seniors to bingo players. But she says adjusting was easy.

“I already knew some people because I’d attended Shoshone County Literacy Council meetings. Everyone’s been a great help,” she said.

Johannson has big plans for the Kellogg Learning Center, and judging by her track record, she just may pull them off. One of a select few volunteer tutors chosen, she received special training at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

NIC’s tutoring program grew from a handful of volunteers to a pool of 45 under her leadership. Since November, the number of client files in the drawer of her Kellogg office has mushroomed from two to 30.

“I want this place to be so busy we need an instructor here every day,” declared Johannson, who started recruiting students the day she hit town.

“The gas station, the grocery store - wherever I went, I hung fliers. And I talked to as many people as I could.”

Another reason for the center’s new-found popularity could be Johannson’s down-to-earth manner. She keeps her 3-month old baby, Ayla, near her elbow at the office.

“The adults I see are the same as all of us - they have to cope with jobs, paying rent, buying food, usually caring for children. Low reading ability just compounds those difficulties. I tell people if they can’t read something that comes in the mail, bring it in. If they need help balancing their checkbook, bring it in. That’s what this program is for,” she said. “It’s easy for me to get in touch with what people are feeling, where they’re coming from.”

Johannson’s empathy for her clients is new.

“I used to think there was no excuse for not being able to read. Then one day I saw an ad for volunteer tutors in the newspaper. It hit me that I had a harsh attitude; that I at least ought to find out about the literacy issue.”

As a volunteer in Coeur d’Alene, Johannson discovered, case by case, that people often fail in the traditional school system through no fault of their own. She also learned that addressing illiteracy can cause a host of other problems to vanish.

“I fell in love the the program when I saw how people’s lives change,” said Johannson, noting that studies have shown that illiteracy often is at the core of problems ranging from alcoholism and drug abuse to poverty and domestic violence.

The Learning Center is open from 9 a.m. to noon every weekday. Any adult who wants to brush up on basic skills, work on English as a second language, or obtain a GED is welcome to use it free of charge. Johannson can be reached at 783-5205.

, DataTimes MEMO: Bekka Rauve is a freelance writer who lives in the Silver Valley. Panhandle Pieces appears every Saturday. The column is shared among several North Idaho writers.