Transcript for Interview with Melissa Cody

Transcript:
Melissa Cody
Literacy Specialist/Teacher
Young Women’s Writing Project
Nicole Flores NassauNews.org Staff Writer: Okay, What is your name?

00:00:02

Melissa Cody, Literacy Specialist/Teacher: Melissa Cody

NassauNews.org: And what is your title here at Hofstra?

00:00:06
MC: My title at Hofstra is Literacy Specialist at the Saltzman Reading and Writing Learning Clinic

NassauNews.org: And how long have you been working with the Reading/Writing Learning Clinic?

00:00:15

MC: I’ve been working at the Saltzman Center since I graduated which was in December of 2003, so I started at the Saltzman center in January of 2004.

NassauNews.org: And have you been working with this particular program since then?

00:00:30

MC: I believe I started this program in the Spring of ’05, so this would be my third year.
NassauNews.org: And what is your role at the program?

00:00:42

MC: My role in the Young Women’s Writing program is presently literacy specialist/ teacher/head mentor.

NassauNews.org: What do you.. how do you work with the girls? What do you do with them?

00:00:54

MC: Um, sometimes we do mini-lessons. We do a lot of brainstorming and building self esteem. A lot of it is, the word I’ve used before and I think my partner Amy’s favorite word is, uh, that its very “organic.” And, a lot of what we do comes from the girls. And they produce a book at the end of the semester in June. That they read from it at writing celebration and most of what’s in there is straight from them it’s not much of what we do with them.

Nassaunews.org: And how do you feel that the program has helped the girls personally?

00:01:29

MC: I’ve actually, you can see, I’ve seen growth in the girls because we have them in seventh grade. They start in seventh grade in the spring and then they come back in the fall as eighth graders and then they’re back again in the Spring as eighth graders acting as mentors to new seventh graders. So to watch them grow from seventh graders into relatively mature eighth graders is incredible. They have a very strong sense of self by the time they get into eighth grade much stronger than a lot of the eight graders that I work with. I ‘m also a middle school teacher in Queens. Um, and I just think that what we do here benefits their self esteem and their sense of self tremendously.

Nassaunews.org: How do you think that that connects with teen pregnancy prevention?

00:02:13

MC: I think, that’s an excellent question. And um, the way their self esteem connects to teen pregnancy prevention is that they are stronger people. And they’re, they maybe think more, I hope , about the things that they’re doing. And they have other things to do,um , to occupy their time. I know Planned Parenthood, Planned Parenthood comes in sometimes and talks to the girls. But I know I’ve mentioned to the girls that Planned Parenthood sponsors us and helps us out and with the direct talk about pregnancy prevention and about being smart and staying safe, they kind of go “oh, not again!” You know. “We’ve heard this a thousand times don’t tell us again.” So instead we work on building them as strong young women, so that they’ll have other alternatives.

Nassaunews.org: And is there anything you would like to add about the program or about the girls?
00:03:11

MC: Just that they’re the most amazing group of young women that I’ve ever encountered and I feel lucky to work with them.