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Deleon Guerrero promises to keep helping literacy program
Viola S. Deleon Guerrero has stepped down as the full-time coordinator of the Motheread/Fatheread program, but she promises to help out.
Deleon Guerrero, who was recognized in last month’s 21st Governor’s Humanities Awards of the Northern Marianas Humanities Council at the Hyatt Regency Saipan for her years of helping the literacy program grow, said she will continue to assist the program.
“I did not renew my contract with the program because of personal and health issues. But I’m a certified parent trainer,” said Deleon Guerrero, who was part of the program since its inception.
She said she’s ready to help the program anytime and even facilitated a group of parents at William S. Reyes Elementary School last month. “[Coordinator] Beth [Demapan] would often call me, ‘We’re running short of trainers. Can you come in and help?’ And I’m able to do that.”
Deleon Guerrero has over 35 years of experience as an educator and spent 20 years with the Motherread/Fatherread Literacy Program.
“I hope it [grassroots literacy program] would continue for many years to come. I think my years of service for the program was fulfilling,” she added.
Deleon Guerrero said that having parents involved in the learning process is their goal. “It was always our dream that every parent that walks away from the program would say I have learned something to become a better parent, to become a better helper, whether through their homework or just explaining what the story is all about and reading to him or her.”
The program started in 1998 and it involves parents teaching literacy to their children.
