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Linda Thomas, right, a volunteer with the Cape Fear Literacy Council, tutors
Mable Jones at the New Hanover County Library in downtown Wilmington.
“It’s building the confidence of the student that’s so important,” Thomas says.
“Everybody’s got the capacity to learn, it’s just having the right resources and
enough time.”
“I would love to continue my education,” Jones says of the future. “This thing is
so big in me.”
”
www.wrightsvillebeachmagazine.com WBM
Changing Lives
Olujimi “Mookie” Jumoke, who grew up in the Wilmington area, dropped out of
school in the seventh grade due to problems with math and struggles with dyslexia
and ADHD. Later, after being jailed for a drug-related offense, he worked toward
earning his GED.
Jumoke, whose mother taught him the importance of reading, passed four of the
five GED test portions. But he failed the math section about five times.
“Every time I failed it was just like taking a piece out of me,” Jumoke says. “It was
kind of just draining my hope.”
A woman at Cape Fear Community College, where the test was administered,
witnessed his frustration and gave him contact information for the literacy council.
Jumoke went to the council but was skeptical at first. He considered leaving the
building until he overheard another new student say he just wanted to learn how to
read his Bible.
“There was something about that comment,” Jumoke says. “He put some good
energy in the universe.”
Jumoke soon began working with a tutor he dubbed the “corner man” to his
It’s building
the confidence
of the student
that’s so important.
Everybody’s got
the capacity to
learn, it’s just
having the right
resources and
enough time.
“
— Linda Thomas
Cape Fear Literacy Council Volunteer