A few years ago, with help from Southwest Solutions, I decided not to give up. I want to improve my English and my parenting, like Lourdes did. Lourdes and I started at the same time in the program. At first, she worked harder than I did –

My name is Mariana Orozco and I am in Southwest Solutions family literacy program with my four children.

Southwest Solutions – and parents like Lourdes – encouraged me to learn more – not just for me but for my four kids. When they are grown up 6^th through 8^th grade – they are going to need more help and I want to be prepared to help them.

I want for them to be successful. If they are going to succeed, I have to help them – to encourage them to study and work hard. I always want to help them. I want to let them know the consequences – good and bad of their choices.

Southwest Solutions has given me the tools I need to help them and I want to take advantage of them.

Since I started I have seen how my kids are improving in school and I think it is because I am close to them. I know the importance of reading to them at home. The responsibility is mine to teach them – not just the school.

They all have good grades – one thing I have to work with them is talking too much in class. My daughter has a problem with comprehension – so I am working with the psychologist and speech teacher to help her.

I always talk with them about what they want to do in the future. They want to be teachers – so I tell them they have to study hard and be intelligent.

They see me working hard. I now am working with my kids school and with Southwest Solutions to increase school attendance. And I am teaching Spanish!

I tell my kids maybe I will be in college at the same time when they are going to college. They know how important college education is to them and to me and I believe that my family will succeed. Thanks to Southwest Solutions, we have many hopes!

I was with her in many groups – she didn’t know any English and I spoke better than her. As time passed, I saw how Lourdes was improving and I told the teacher how impressed I was to see her speaking English. When she went to the kids classroom is where she learned more English; the kids helped her learn more.

She liked to learn – she demonstrated that when she was at home she brought home notes and read what she learned in class. She told the rest of us we need to study at home. When the year ended, I saw that Lourdes demonstrated how much she learned.