THE ANNETTE SESSIONS STUDENT OF THE YEAR AWARD
Annette Sessions left school at age 10 to help out when her Mother became ill. She worked in the cotton fields, earning $3.50 for each 100 lb. bag of cotton she picked. As an adult she worked as a seamstress in a coat factory. She thought she was hiding her inability to read from her employer, but he knew because she had not followed though on the paperwork required for a promotion. Annette left the coat factory in 1985 and looked for help to learn how to read.
She came to Literacy Volunteers of Greater New Haven and began working with tutor Crystella Smith. After several years, Annette proudly received her high school diploma, earning a Congressional Award as the outstanding student. She began working as a VISTA volunteer in the LV office, and now works as the highly effective Community Outreach Coordinator.
Annette has become a passionate spokesperson for literacy at the federal, state, and local levels. With the love of her family and the help of Literacy Volunteers, Annette’s life has been blessed. Now, when she speaks before audiences about what it was like to be an adult non-reader, she realizes she is just like everyone else in the room, except that as a child she was not fortunate enough to learn how to read. We are proud to name the Student of the Year Award after Annette Sessions!
STUDENTS OF THE YEAR
| 1999 |
Patricia Dohna |
| 2000 |
Dorota Wojnarowska |
| 2001 |
Angela Sindo |
| 2002 |
Robert Levesque |
| 2003 |
Leila Rodriguez |
| 2004 |
Robert St. Pierre, Jr,. and Lucia Carvajal |
| 2005 |
Abelardo Aleman, Gloria Aquinaga, Rosa Burgos, Martha Fiallo, Sonia Hurtado, Sandra Melendez, Ana Maria Prado, Flor Rodriguez, Migdalia Rodriguez and Luis Santos. |
| 2006 |
Charles Paris |
