Literacy Network

Our Student Achievement Ceremony and Omega School graduation are joyous celebrations each year! Enjoy a handful of photos from this year's event honoring students who achieved major milestones, from passing the citizenship test to earning their high school diploma. Students, we are proud to be part of your journey!

Congratulations on this well-deserved honor to longtime Literacy Network volunteer Anne Karch!

The Rotary Club of Madison was honored to present Anne Karch with a Senior Service Award at today's luncheon for volunteerism with Literacy Network and Dup15q Alliance!

Jeff Bartell, a member of our Senior Service Award Committee, shared the following words at our meeting regarding Anne Karch:

Anne is an exceptionally skilled and knowledgeable teacher and linguist. She holds a Ph.D in curriculum and instruction, a master’s degree in reading, as well as a certificate in teaching English language learners.

Anne has been a dedicated volunteer at Literacy Network for more than 10 years, where she had devoted more than 1,000 hours as a tutor, working one-on-one with adult learners to build reading, writing and literacy skills.
Her work has supported adults in Madison and Dane County working toward earning American citizenship and a high school equivalency diploma.

In addition to tutoring, Anne has served on the Literacy Network board of directors, where she provides thoughtful and knowledgeable leadership and contributes to the organization’s strategic direction.

I mentioned that Anne tutors students toward citizenship and a GED. One such student was Amanda, who went only as far as middle school in Mexico before she moved to the U.S. Amanda enrolled in Literacy Network and started working with Anne. As Amanda built her English skills, she got a new job – followed by a promotion. Then, with Anne’s continuing tutoring, Amanda became a U.S. citizen and earned her equivalency diploma in May of last year – the same month her daughter graduated from high school.

In the interest of brevity, I won’t go into Anne’s 30-year volunteer work and leadership role with the Dup15q Alliance which works to empower individuals living with Dup15q syndrome, a rare genetic disorder, to reach their full potential through advancing research and treatments, supporting families and promoting advocacy.

Suffice to say that Anne Karch superbly embodies the Rotary ideals of “Service above Self,” and I am honored to present her with Rotary’s Senior Service Award.

Congratulations Anne and thank you for your contributions to the community!