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Chicago – This year, Aquinas Literacy Center is celebrating 20 years of serving the McKinley Park community on the southwest side of Chicago. When the Center opened in 1996, Sister Claudia Hinds, OP, the foundress, started simply in the basement of the Our Lady of Good Counsel convent with two tables and five chairs.
“Aquinas has experienced joyful growth throughout the years,” Alison Altmeyer, Executive Director of Aquinas Literacy Center, explains. “We hope that Sister Claudia would be proud of how our program has evolved.”
Annually, Aquinas Literacy Center serves 200 limited English proficient adult learners. In addition to receiving one-on-one English as a Second Language tutoring, learners can participate in any of the 10 small group classes, such as conversation groups, book clubs, and writing workshops.
Learners have access to a Computer Learning Center, with Rosetta Stone language learning software and a SmartBoard that tutoring pairs use for interactive lessons.
Aquinas Literacy Center is looking forward to celebrating its 20th anniversary this year!
The building that the literacy center is in was Our Lady of Good Counsel School where I spent 7 years teaching and 7 years as principal. I was there in the 50s when the school was built and then again in the 80s as principal. So good to see the old building and to know that it is still of some very important use. Congratulations on the 20th. anniversary.Maureen