Welcome to the Living Library, a partnership between the YWCA Gettysburg & Adams County and the Adams County Library System!  We have gathered human "books" to be checked out by readers for 30-minute conversations during the week.  Please use the form below to register to listen to Judith's story.

I was born in Johnstown, PA, a town of ethnic and religious diversity. My grandparents were immigrants from Poland and Czechoslovakia. I attended the University of Pittsburgh where I majored in elementary education and English. My teaching career included fifth grade, high school English and English as a Second Language. My husband and I moved to Gettysburg in 1973, where we raised two children. In 1987, I went to work for the Migrant Child Development Program, a federally funded program that provided special tutoring to the children of migrant farm laborers. In the late 80s, many of the Mexican families started staying year round and ESL became a required part of the school curricula in our local districts. To teach culturally, linguistically diverse students, I earned 15 graduate credits from Penn State. I finished my career working with ESL students at Lincoln Elementary School where my classroom included children from not only Mexico, but Puerto Rico, Haiti, India, China, Sierra Leone, Kenya, Poland, Bosnia and Myanmar. After retirement, I have tutored refugees (adults) from Myanmar and currently Afghanistan.

Book Title: My Eyes Were Opened

Book Synopsis:

My Eyes Were Opened will relate my observations of the ‘stranger’ relocating and starting a new life in Adams County.  My life experiences have given me a broad perspective on how immigrants fare in our community. In my career as a Migrant Intervention Specialist and as an ESL instructor, a Habitat for Humanity mentor, a Literacy Council tutor and an advocate for migrant and refugee families, I have come to understand first hand the hardships they face in their journey to adapt to life in a new culture. My book will discuss the  challenges migrant children faced in their education as they moved from one school district to another. When the Mexican families established permanent residence, the necessity to learn English and adjust to new cultural demands became high priorities. My book will also highlight the success stories of two Burmese refugee families as they built new lives in Gettysburg, from learning English to gaining employment, to becoming Habitat for Humanity homeowners, to becoming US citizens. Their journeys to a new life of freedom illustrate courage, sacrifice, adaptability, hard work, and appreciation for all the help they received.