The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Senior wins national Read 180 award
Many teachers hope to move students along at one year’s worth of growth in a year.
But an Elyria High School senior won national recognition for improving her reading comprehension skills by one year in a month, four months in a row.
After starting the year reading at a seventhgrade level, Cahrin Donald brought her skills to the 12th grade level in one year using a Scholastic Read 180 program.
Cahrin’s teacher Fran Wondrak enters three or four students every year in Scholastic All Star Awards, a nationwide contest for Read 180 students.
Broken down by grade level, three students win at the high school level, Wondrak indicated in an email, and Cahrin won this year.
“Cahrin has shown determination to sustain improvements by monitoring her individual class grades and preparing to transition out of high school,” Wondrak wrote in her nomination form. “Cahrin is organized and takes getting good grades seriously.
“She logs onto Power School from her phone to access individual class assignments. Cahrin is selfmotivated and sets the bar high for herself. Cahrin has a 3.38 GPA.
“Cahrin does have daily challenges, though. Her body is confined to a motorized wheelchair, but not her mind. Using her iPhone, wheelchair joystick and Chromebook, Cahrin communicates with the world. Cahrin is also nonverbal.”
In September 2016, Cahrin scored in grade five in reading, Wondrak wrote. On Dec. 1, she scored in grade nine, the teacher wrote.
“Lastly, Cahrin is a normal urban teenager,” Wondrak wrote. “She’s interested in music and hanging out with her friends.
“Cahrin has an infectious smile and a twinkle in her eyes that draws you in. Cahrin’s positivity draws students to her.”
Cahrin wrote that her determination soared since she was nominated for Read 180.
“I plan on going to Lorain County Community College to study early childcare education,” Cahrin wrote. “I can’t be the teacher, but would love to work in the classroom to show the children how important reading can be in life.”
The program originally was brought to the Elyria City School District to improve reading of juniors and seniors so they could pass the Ohio Graduation Test, Wondrak wrote.
After a few years of using the program, she asked to include younger students so they could improve skills earlier, she wrote.
“The two important contributors to Cahrin’s success in school are (Principal) Tim Brown and (aide) Jill Wozniak,” Wondrak wrote. “(Brown) was the principal when Cahrin started at Elyria. He advocated for her to be in the regular education classroom.
“His persistence has paid off for Cahrin. She is welladjusted, on the honor roll, and is socially competent.”
Second, Wozniak is Cahrin’s paraprofessional, Wondrak wrote.
“Because Cahrin is nonverbal, Jill needs to read and record the portions of software for her,” Wondrak wrote. “It works. There is a joyfulness that is seen between the two of them working together. Students see Cahrin working hard in her classes and she motivates them to succeed.
“Cahrin inspires her friends to get their work done,” Wondrak wrote. “Cahrin has a smile for everyone around her in the halls. We’re so proud of her and her accomplishments, but we will miss her tooling around in her motorized wheelchair next year.”
The announcement about the 15 student winners is on the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt website at www.hmhco.com