Cleston

By the time Cleston arrives at LVGH each morning for his 10 AM class, he has already had a long morning. Cleston leaves his home in Vernon at 6 AM, taking two buses to get out here to Hartford. The willingness to sacrifice that much time and effort to commute here twice a week is indicative of Cleston's commitment to furthering his education.

When Cleston was a young boy in Jamaica, he would burn and harvest sugarcane by night before going to school in the morning. Needless to say, school was not easy or enjoyable for him. When he moved to the states at ten years old, things didn’t get much better. Cleston went through his entire grade school career with undiagnosed dyslexia. “No one knew,” he said. “Everybody could read except me. I just couldn’t get it.”

It wasn’t until this year that a caseworker suggested Cleston return to school, suggesting our classes at LVGH. Cleston was reluctant. “I was very nervous to start. I even started ignoring their calls. But finally, I said to myself, ‘I gotta learn how to read’.”

When Cleston began Basic Literacy class, he was learning to trace out the letters of the alphabet. Three months later, he wrote a letter to his mom. “It really lifted her up. She told me not to stop.”

“I’ve come a long way,” he tells us. “My life has changed a lot. But I’m not ever going to give up. My goal is to read. I’m not rushing it; I’m going to take my time. But I want to read a book.”

When asked if he was glad he agreed to restart his learning journey at LVGH, Cleston replies: “I had to. And you should, too. Take a chance and do what you can do for yourself. Once you help yourself, your teacher will help you.”