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10Sep 15

2015 Lions’ Learner Achievement Award Winner-Clint Broten

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Clint Broten is this year’s Lions’ Learner Achievement Award winner, to be presented at the READ Saskatoon PGI Golf Tournament for Literacy next Monday, September 14.

In the fall of 2014, Broten was starting the two-year Community Services Addictions diploma program at the Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technologies (SIIT) in Saskatoon. He was a mature student, and hadn’t been in school for over 25 years.

“I heard about READ Saskatoon and that they did tutoring,” explains Broten. “I didn’t know much about it, but I went there because I was going back to school.”

The first person Broten met at READ Saskatoon was Shelagh Trapp, the Adult Literacy Coordinator. She remembers Broten being very clear in his goals.

“Sometimes you see people walk through the door,” says Trapp, “and you think, ‘this person is going to be on fire if we can get them hooked up with a tutor right away!’”

READ Saskatoon’s literacy tutors are volunteers, donating their time to work with adult learners like Broten.

“All of our tutors are fantastic,” Trapp says, “but I thought Rhea Rosvold would be a really good fit, especially since Clint said he needed help with the academics.”

Broten began working with Rosvold, meeting once a week at the same time that his SIIT program began. They worked together studying for exams, researching and writing papers, learning PowerPoint (“one of the coolest things I’ve every done,” says Broten), and other computer skills.

“Rhea’s an amazing woman, very intelligent,” he says.  “I don’t think there’s anything she doesn’t know!”

Broten describes her as a tutor and a friend.

“She knew when to step in to help me,” says Broten, “but she also let me struggle, too.”  He remembers times when he needed Rosvold to give him a little nudge, “but she definitely let me do my own work so it was really mine.”

“I couldn’t have done it without her,” says Broten. “I’ve been out of school for so long, it made all the difference to have someone believe in me.”