He Could Read. No One Taught Him How.

For years, Nick's mother knew something was wrong.

She watched her son struggle with words that other kids seemed to absorb effortlessly. She sat with him through homework that left him frustrated and exhausted. And she did what any parent would do — she asked for help.

She asked in first grade. She was told to wait.

She was told it was too early. She was told that boys can be slower than girls. She kept asking. The school eventually completed an evaluation — but the testing missed what was actually happening, and Nick was sent back to classrooms that couldn't reach him.

She didn't stop. She pushed for an Independent Educational Evaluation. This time, the results were unambiguous: Nick was dyslexic. He always had been.

Even then, the right services didn't come quickly. There were more meetings. More delays. Staffing changes. Inconsistent follow-through. Structured literacy — the kind of teaching Nick needed — didn't make it into his plan until years after his mother first raised her hand.

Nick is now approaching fourth grade. He is bright, capable, and still working to build the reading foundation that should have been laid years ago.

Why This Summer Cannot Wait

Fourth grade changes everything.

It's the year school stops teaching kids how to read and starts expecting them to read to learn — textbooks, assignments, everything. For a child still building foundational skills, that shift can feel like a wall.

This summer, we have a chance to help Nick meet that wall with momentum instead of fear.

Through the Bessie Stillman Scholarship Fund — administered in partnership with the California Education Justice Alliance (CEJA) — Nick will receive 50 lessons of intensive, structured literacy tutoring over 10 weeks. Instruction designed for exactly how his brain works.

Fifty lessons won't undo years of delay. But they can:

• Strengthen his decoding and word recognition

• Build reading fluency

• Give him real, documented evidence of what he's capable of

• Help him walk into fourth grade with confidence — and with proof

That proof matters. When a student with dyslexia makes measurable gains under the right instruction, it becomes much harder for anyone to argue that progress isn't possible. It strengthens every conversation his mother has going forward.

How the Scholarship Works

Stillman Academy is contributing a third of Nick's tuition. His family is contributing what they can. The rest — $6,187.50 — needs to come from people who believe every child deserves to be taught in the way they actually learn.

Your donation goes directly toward:

• 50 lessons of structured literacy tutoring

• Ongoing progress monitoring

• Documented evidence to support future advocacy

• A stronger start to the school year

This Is About More Than One Summer

Nick's mother spent years doing everything right — asking early, advocating persistently, refusing to accept explanations that didn't add up. Her son deserved better from the systems meant to serve him.

We can't give back the years that were lost. But we can make sure this summer counts.

Help fund Nick's summer intervention. Your contribution tells him — and his mother — that the effort was worth it. That he is worth it. And that the right instruction, finally given, can still change everything.