Photo by Caitlin Cunningham
The Boston College community knows her as a staff assistant in the Communication Department, but Leslie Douglas has a not-so-secret identity.
Once a month, she transforms into âMiss Leslie,â enthusiastic reader of stories to young children and dressed to suit the occasion, whether a Halloween witch, a Christmas elf, or a St. Patrickâs Day leprechaun.
"Miss Leslie" Douglas gets into the holiday spirit.
This fall, Douglas formally started her 18th year as a volunteer in the Universityâs award-winning Read Aloud program, which sends faculty and staff to visit K-5 classrooms at the St. Columbkille Partnership School and Thomas Edison K-8 School, both in Brighton, where they read a story or book to the students. The program, a partnership between BC, Boston Public Schools, and Boston Partners in Education, is back to an in-person format after the pandemic had curtailed visits to schools from 2020 through last spring. During that period, some Read Aloud volunteers, including Douglas, used Zoom or YouTube videos to maintain a connection with the schoolchildren.
Needless to say, Douglas prefers the live-and-in-person version.
âI like it when the students react and have questions in regard to what Iâm reading,â said Douglas, who has worked with pre-kindergarten, kindergarten, and first-grade classes at St. Columbkille. âKids at that age are so bright and eager to learn. Flexibility is the key word with children, and so is listening. For all that to work, you really need to be in the same room with them.â
Intersections Program Director Burton Howell, whoâs been with the program for more than two decades, agrees. âTheir love for books is refreshing. When I ask a question, almost every hand goes up, and they are truly excited to answer.â
Read Aloud is not meant simply to entertain, say participants and organizers: The programâs aim is to help foster a love of reading among the schoolchildren, touting books as a source of pleasure and fuel for youthful imagination. Along the way, Read Aloud brings caring adults into the kidsâ livesâand those adults usually find the benefits go both ways.
âHaving gone to St. Columbkille for 12 years now, I feel very welcome,â said Information Technology Services Assistant Manager Jon McGrath. âThe students, faculty, and staff there seem to truly appreciate all the volunteers that come through; they know we donât have to be there, we want to be there, and that seems to mean something to them. Getting to know the kids over the course of a year is very rewarding.â
âYou get a lot more out of the Read Aloud program than you put in,â said Associate Director for Major Giving Gemma Dorsey, a 10-year volunteer. âIt is a small time commitment to have a great impact on the lives of these special kids.â
Carroll School of Management Assistant Dean Amy Donegan at a Read Aloud session at St. Columbkille Partnership School. (Caitlin Cunningham)
Read Aloud was honored in 2010 by Boston Partners in Education, a nonprofit that aims to enhance the academic achievement and nurture the personal growth of Bostonâs public school students.
Ěý"The studentsĚýat St. Columbkille love the BC readers," said Kate Ward,Ěý the school's chief advancement and enrollment officerl.Ěý"They bring energy and warmthĚýto our classrooms and we are very grateful. Children love to be read to and always cheer when theirĚýBC reader appears."
With support from Human Resources, Office of Governmental and Community Affairs Staff Assistant Laura Bitran has organized the Read Aloud program since its inception in 1995, when six volunteers formed the first cohort. That number quickly grew to upwards of 55 to 65 a year, before the pandemic lockdown halted the programâexcept for those volunteers, like Douglas, who stayed in touch remotelyâand Bitran is confident that it will return to the pre-COVID level.
âRead Aloud is fun but itâs also doing something important: engaging with children,â she said. âYouâre showing them how enjoyable reading is, and youâre also offering an opportunity to talk: âWhat did you like about this story? What do you think happened afterwards?ââ
Bitran, a Brazilian native whose accent has sometimes piqued the curiosity of her Read Aloud classes, added that going off-book also is perfectly acceptable. âA child might ask, âYou have an accent, where are you from?â You can say something about yourself and invite them to talk a little about themselves.â
Working in a ĐÓ°ÉÔ´´ environment affords Douglas and other program volunteers a special perspective: Through Read Aloud, they see children at the early stages of their school experience; at BC, they see the young people these kids will someday become, embarking on the next phase in their education.
âIt does make my job interesting,â said Douglas, who notes that more than a few BC students seek her out for candy or other such treats around Halloween or other special occasions.
For Douglas, who has an undergraduate degree in communication and a masterâs degree in administrative studies from BC, her monthly visit to St. Columbkille involves staying in touch on a regular basis with the class teacher and planning for contingencies while accepting that, well, sometimes things happen. She typically brings three books with her, usually from home (the Lynch School of Education and Human Developmentâs Educational Resource Center also has a good store of material for Read Aloud volunteers). Ěý
âThere were times when I was sure theyâd like the book I brought,â she said, âbut Iâd get two pages into it and you could see their eyes start to glaze. Or, as it turned out, theyâd just read the book that morning. So I made sure to have a back-up plan.â
Then again, she added, if the kids really like a book, they might not mind going through it again: âIâll read a Dr. Seuss book, and the kids are reciting right along with me. I love it.â
When possible, Douglas seeks to incorporate holidays or seasonal events into her monthly appearances. âAround Halloween, Iâve been known to dress up as a witch and âflyâ into the room; Iâll ask the kids, âDo you think Iâm a real witch?â Then Iâll read something like Room on the Broom. But Iâll also talk a little about Halloween safety. Or, when the weather starts to get warm and everyoneâs spending more time outdoors, I mention the importance of protecting your skin from the sun.â
To wrap up the school year, Douglas holds a graduation-type ceremony for the class, giving each child a certificate for reading; she asks the kids to applaud one another.
âI just think itâs a nice way to finish up this time weâve had together, and celebrate what weâve learned about ourselves and one another,â she said.
Douglas has been gratified by the support of teachers and parents alike, the latter of whom often greet her with âOh, so youâre Miss Leslie!â upon being introduced. âIt makes you feel like a celebrity,â laughed Douglas, who has sometimes found herself âmobbedâ in the school parking lot by enthusiastic young fans.
McGrath has had a similar experience attending the Christmas celebration at St. Columbkille Parish, an event involving many students from the school. âThe kids greeted me like a returning hero; my own kids were never that excited to see me,â he quipped. âAll I did was show up for something. It wasnât a big deal, but reminded me that little things can mean a lot to people.â
Ěý
BC Read Aloud volunteer Hilary Crouteau, an acquisitons and fiscal assistant at OâNeill Library, introduces St. Columbkille students to 'Eloise at the Plaza.' (Caitln Cunningham)
Bitran notes that BC makes a point of recognizing its Read Aloud volunteers with an annual âCelebration of a Readerâ reception, which features a guest speakerâusually localâfrom the literary community. She points to Vice President for Human Resources David Trainor and Director of Employee Development Bernard OâKane as avid supporters of Read Aloud, in particular by informing newly hired employees about the program.
âRead Aloud would not have grown as it has if we did not have the unconditional support of these two remarkable people,â she said. âWe are indebted to them.â
For information about the Read Aloud program, contact Laura Bitran at laura.bitran@bc.edu.
Sean Smith | University Communications | December 2021