Brina's Narrative
 Maydock, Brina (2010-03-13)
>>BRINA MAYDOCK: Hi, name is Brina Maydock and I'm from Canton, Ohio.  It's about 2 hours north of Columbus.  I went to Canton-Mckinley; it was an inner city school.  Overall, I would say that the education system in Canton was pretty poor. Our test scores were low and it was a very difficult environment to learn in. So I would normally have to teach myself, read at home, and watch my grandma read the newspaper and have her read to me.  Same with my mom.  My mom was an active participant are in my education and I loved when my mom read to me.
>>BRINA MAYDOCK: I remember when my mom got me my first library card and how we would go to the bookmobile every summer.  Me and my best friend would compete against reading books and everything, and whoever won -- I don't remember what prize they got.  It must have been something cool.  Another challenger struggle that I had to go through was: I have been to 3 different countries so it's always difficult to understand the language and read, just to even try to get around.  So you have to know someone that can interpret the language or know someone who speaks English; English is a big enough language around the world so it's good that that is pretty common.
>>BRINA MAYDOCK: When I grew up I played every sport and I would say that literacy was a big skill, if you can read and write your plays down for basketball or anything.  If you can't read I feel like it's not a big deal may be as much in sports, but it still is I would say. Because if you are trying to write down basketball plays or writing down each person on the field or trying to learn a softball skill out of the book you can't -- you can't do that, you don't have the correct literacy skills.
>>BRINA MAYDOCK: Another big challenge I would say is my transition into college and especially because I was so behind from my high school.  I had to start at the lower level math.  We offered advanced classes which I was in but they still weren't up to the standards of other schools.  So I had a long time developing or even studying, I never had to study in high school because everything came so easy to me. But when I came here I had to open a book, I had to actually participate, I had to actually do things that I wasn't accustomed to.  So that was a pretty big challenge or struggle.
>>BRINA MAYDOCK: Another thing that's very important about literacy skills to me is that it helps you say if you can't speak about your emotions but you can write them down.  And I know my mom was really good at poetry so she would always express her feelings through homes or even, say, listening to music.  That's literacy right there, that's putting words together.  I know a lot of people that use music as an outlet.  Literacy skills, reading, writing, those kinds of concepts are integrated into every part of your life every day.  I think of them as a basic survival tool.  And especially now that the world is advancing and that you a higher academic level then everyone's literacy skills should be brushed up, should be advanced, should be in tiptop shape, I guess.