This week, we sit down with three former students of Storyshares CEO Louise Baigelman and Chief Academic Officer Shira Engel — young people who came to them as older students with gaps in their literacy skills and who, with the right support and the right books, transformed into readers.

Three moments from this episode you won't forget:

• Ruth arrived in fifth grade from Haiti reading at a second grade level. Today she's a mom who reads to her sixteen-month-old every single night.
• Zaire spent years joking his way out of being called on to read. The first book he ever finished on his own — The Crossover by Kwame Alexander — made him cry. He's now pursuing social work because he wants to make the impact on others that his teacher made on him.
• Lenn Darla went from fifth grade reading intervention to AP Literature to registered nurse — and uses the comprehension skills she learned in fifth grade to advocate for her patients every single day.

Three students. Two teachers. One through-line: it is never too late.

To learn more about our work transforming adolescent literacy, visit storyshares.org or reach out to melanie@storyshares.org