We've moved. Our new location;

St. John's Lutheran Church
808 N. Main St.
Oshkosh

My name is Linda. I am a single mother with two children. i dropped out of high school in the 10th grade. So when I enrolled my son into Head Start and realized I had the oppurtunity to go back to school myself, I jumped at the chance. While y son attended school upstairs, I attended school downstairs. the first year I recieved assistance from Bonnie Spilker towards my HSED. During this year I found out I was pregnant with my second child, so I tried to finish my HSED as wuickly as possible. I worked hard every chance I could; over winter and spring breaks. After I had my baby, I came back to classes 1 week after aving him. I wanted to try and finish before summer break. When I cam back this school year (2002-2003), I had 3 subjects to finish up. thisyear Ricky Vandervelden is the instructor. She has been very positive and helpful in helping me to achieve my HSED.

I have seen a lot of people come and go throughout this process. Some have finished and others have not. I have gained many friendships since I've started. Since I graduated in december of 2002, i have enrolled and started Cosmetology School with the help of financial aid. By achieveing my goal of the HSED, and enrolling in Cosmetology School, it is helping me to support my kids and getting a great career.

Our hats are off to this young lady for achieving her goal of getting an HSED. Congradulations Linda!

On December 16, G.O.E.S. families enjoyed a Christmas party at Peace Lutheran Church. Mr. & Mrs. Santa Claus and all the families had their pictures taken with our North Pole guests. Each family recieved a stocking full of giftsfrom Santa. the stockings were made and donated by Wisconsin Warmers. A one time use camera was in each stocking for their families to use at their family Christmas gatherings. A special presentation was made by Mao. She described her traditional Hmong costume. After a dinner of lasagna, salad, milk and rolls, the families enjoyed making a variety of ornaments. Each child also recieved 2 books.

Getting students to enjo learning, is what Amanda Wendt does best. She is the instructor for the ESL class held on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. In addition to these duties, she has worked part time for Winnebago County Literacy Council for hte past 3 years while attending college. Her strength in teaching lie in her ability to engage the students in conversations and questioning. She encourages the students to think through problems and provides oppertunities for group work as well. It is not uncommen to see a Spanish speaking student helping a Hmong speaking student with an english assignment.

All students keep journals and write in them daily. Amanda reads the journals and writes back to the students. this strengthens not only their writing skills but their reading as well. In her spare time Amanda enjoys reading, volunteering, and spending time with friends and family. She is expecting her first child in July.

We are lucky to have Amanda as part of our team! Keep up the good work Amanda!!!

Through a Campus sponsored internship program, yolonda Kilpack has been working with our program since December.

Yolanda is a native of Venezuela and grew up learning Spanish as her second language. Her parnets re Italian. Now Yolanda helps the spanish students with their paperwork, translates flyers and brochures, and visits with the student to assist them with setting realistic goals. In return for her efforts, she will recieve 3 college credits is Spanish.

In addition to college and her volunteer work, she is also the mother of 4 children ages 3-8 who keep her very busy most recently with the chicken pox.

She enjoys going to school and looks forward to getting her college degree as soon as possible so she can enter medical school.

Yolanda is very outgoing and a very caring person. She tries to help the students in all aspects of their lives. We all look forward to working with Yolonda this semester.

Our program can always use donations. On our with list is:

A BIG thank you goes to the Wisconsin Warmers for their donation of 13 quilts made for one of our families in need of bedding. The quilts will be enjoyed by these children for years to come. thank you Wisconsin Warmers for bringing joy to one of our families.

G.O.E.S. is funded by the department of Education. The grant money is passed through to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. It is their duty to evaluate our program to ensure all the components are being offered. January 14th & 15th five team members visited our site and gained valuable first hand knowledge of how our program is run. they visited with most of the partnering agency representatives before sitting in on as ESL (English as a Second Language) classroom held at peace Lutheran Church. On Wednesday morning they toured the UW-Oshkosh Head Start Joyce Wilcox Center adult basic education classroom and the early chilhood classroom.

At wrap up meeting it was noted that we have very strong Partners Group and we have very energetic and enthusiastic teachers. We have a strong program that can only get better with the direction from DPI and our Partner Group.

The Four Components of Even Start are:

• Adult Eduation
• Early Childhood
• Parenting
• PACT - Parent and Child Together Time

The Winnebago County Literacy Council, a partner agency with the GOES Program, serves adults in the area who need help with reading, writing, and speaking skills.

Students at WCLC meet with their volunteer tutors once a week, for about an hour and a half, and work on meeting their goals and improving their skills.

New students are always welcome at WCLC. there is no fee to join and never any cost to the student. Some of our students are working on their EDs, some are learning basic reading or writing, and still others are learning how to speak English. WCLC students come from a wide background of ages, skill levels, and origins.

Volunteer tutors are also in high demand at WCLC. The program would not be able to provide the services that it does without the help of it's many active volunteer literacy tutors. All tutors are required to attend a WCLC orientation workshop and training before being matched with their student(s) For more information about the services that WCLC offers, how to be a student or tutor, or how to register for a training workshop, please call Amanda Wendt at (920) 236-5219 ext. 4802 today.

Thanks to Chancellor Richard Wells, Assistant Chancellor Thomas G. Sonnleitner and Assistant Vice Chancellor John R. Berens, Greater Oshkosh Even Start has moved our office to Polk Library, room 315.

Being a part of the UW-Oshkosh system, this move has made it possible to make better use of all the services the university has to offer.It also makes it much easier to meet with student volunteers who are interested in hte work GOES does.

Our mailing address & phone number remain the same.

800 Algoma Blvd., Oshkosh, WI 54901
(920) 424-2309

PACT - What is it????

PACT is Parent and Child Together Time.
Once a month we plan a special evening where parents and children can play together in constructive learning areas.

In January after a hot meal, the families got together and listened to "The Mitten", a story read to them by Mary Murphy, a reading specialist from Jefferson Elementaty. Tips were given on how parents can read to their child more effectively. Each family recieved a memory game and a card game to enjoy at home and to continue learning at home.

Other activities for the night included making edible snowflakes, making snowman soup, cutting out paper snowflakes, making a snowman from a pop bottle, and playing snowball golf.Tables were decorated by Ms. Nancy Smida and her family. They crafted snowmen from cloth and at the end of the evening each family left with a snowman centerpiece.

PACT times enable families to spend quality time together that they might not otherwise get to experience. Many of our parents work full time providing for their families and quality time is limited as a result. PACT nights are enjoyed by parents and children and are a valuable components to our Even Start program.