How Read-180 Changed My Life (Maria Merza)
Maria was the very first student the Language Institute welcomed from Syria. Through a translator she immediately communicated her dream of attending a four year university. It was already April of 9th grade when she arrived, and since she had not attended school in years, she did not have transfer grades for her freshman year. We assured her this was not a problem at all since our program offered a “Super Senior” year to students needing extra time to become fluent in English, graduate, or become university eligible. Maria did her part, working her way from learning the alphabet to reading at grade level in less than three years, and was on her way graduating A-G eligible. Even though the “Super Senior” year was part of Maria’s graduation plan from day one, less than three months before the end of 12th grade (her third year of high school) she was notified she was unable to return for the additional year due to her age. At the time her GPA was 4.1 and she was balloted to take all AP and Middle College courses the following year. Maria, along with a handful of other students impacted by this sudden change in policy that upended their personalized graduation plans, fought back and complained all the way to the Attorney General of California. Even though the complaint was never acted upon, and Maria lost her chance at graduating with the classes necessary to go directly to a four year college, her courage puts the specific needs of immigrant, refugee, and asylum seeking students that enter the U.S. school system as teens on the radar. Part of my motivation to do this work is to honor her legacy.
