Yakquelin Garduno, recently promoted to Program Director of Mighty Writers El Futuro Kennett is serving as a model for her students as she continues to pursue her own dream of personal and professional growth. She will soon graduate with a master’s degree in writing studies.
Starting as an employee of Mighty Writers in 2021, Yaquelin developed a passion for being a classroom writing teacher. She moved into a Senior Director position at Mighty Writers in 2023 and soon after signed up online to attend St. Joseph University in Philadelphia. She is close to the end of her schooling as she writes her thesis.
Mighty Writers’ mission is to empower every child to succeed in school and beyond by ensuring equal access to education, nutrition and social-emotional development. They promote literacy as a tool for social change and to expand youth access to opportunity.
As her master thesis, Yakquelin has chosen to write a novella depicting the challenges of life in Mexico with the cartels. She is aware that novels can also teach and address social change. “My students can see the work that I am putting in, so hopefully they see the writing process as a way for achieving a goal and influencing society.”
In a previous interview, Yakquelin said, “Living in the same neighborhood as a child where my students now live, I know how easy it is to get off track, so I am happy to be a part of offering alternatives and ways to reach one’s potential. In Mighty Writers’ case it is our variety of programs starting with writing that help bring this about.”
Beyond their after-school programs throughout the year, Mighty Writers’ upcoming free Summer Camp for 6 weeks is a great example of how they capitalize on the value of writing as a starting point. The students write about a topic they care about. They move into expressing themselves through art, followed by a science project and still time for active play.
The plan is to have about 100 students engaged in this camp Monday through Thursday sessions from late June to early August. Field Trips are also part of the program and writing about this experience follows.
Yakquelin hopes to stay at Mighty Writers teaching youth in her current role. In the future, she also can see herself teaching writing to adults.
For any age group, Yakquelin says: “I recently heard that reading and writing are our first freedoms and I couldn’t agree more. Nothing is stronger than our own voice when we use it. Writing helps uncover our emotions, our passions and our creativity—ultimately ourselves.”
She continues; “Being a writer has made me a better, more engaged listener of others and myself. Reading books has allowed me to strengthen my literary voice, but also my physical voice. I feel proud to be able to advocate for my community. I couldn’t do that without the freedom of reading and writing.”
Yakquelin whole-heartedly agrees with the motto of Mighty Writers El Futuro by living it herself and teaching others— “Writing is Mighty!”
The Story of Kennett – Shaping the future one child at a time” Joan Holliday and Bob George’s book on Kennett may be purchased on Amazon and at the Mushroom Cap. You may contact Joan at: dochollisv@aol.com