Service

Let’s Get L.I.T. is a local organization that I have been working extensively with to help improve the literacy rates in my city. We are in a literacy crisis where I live, as many children are reading well below grade level in middle and high school. With Let’s Get L.I.T. I have worked in their programs to help improve students’ reading and writing skills. I have gotten to know so many amazing people and bright students through this gratifying work. I was also able to co-author and publish an article in a local women’s magazine with the founder of Let’s Get L.I.T. about the literacy crisis. Link here: https://issuu.com/kellybreuer/docs/rochester_woman_online_s_july_aug_2025_edition

The article is featured on pages 196-199.

Our Local History is another local organization that focuses on educating the community on the important civil rights history that occurred in our hometown. They also provide their own curriculum for local high schools to inform students of important events in our city’s history that they might never have known before. I came across Our Local History during my research on redlining (see my research page for links). I learned a lot that I hadn’t known before from their curriculum, and since then, I have worked to incorporate it into my own high school’s curriculum. Education is one of the first steps to creating understanding, and so this was an important issue for me to cover to create more empathy and understanding in my everyday community.

At St. Joseph’s Church, I have worked as part of the Vacation Bible School volunteer staff. I have managed a classroom of around twenty children. It is one of my favorite volunteer experiences because I love working with kids and inspiring them on their faith journeys. Entertaining and teaching these kids about faith and all the different aspects of it, while making it fun in the process, is one of the highlights of my summer each year. I learn a lot from these experiences, including understanding, a lot of patience, and that each person learns at a different pace and in a different way.