My Hopelink Story: A.J. Sugahara

I moved to the Eastside to go to high school in the Lake Washington School District. It was a lot harder than in Seattle where I had been and I was struggling. Turns out that I was only reading at a 4th grade level, so I came to Hopelink for help with reading and to get caught up in other basic subjects. By then I decided it would take forever to get through high school and it would be quicker to get my GED, so I started working with a volunteer tutor from Hopelink on that.

My tutor was basically like a grandma. She encouraged me a lot, told me not to give up and helped me get through everything. I worked with her for about two years, every other day for two hours. I was working really hard with Hopelink and also taking classes at BCC. My reading improved from the 4th grade level to the 9th grade level. History and science got a lot easier after I learned to read better because there’s so much reading involved. My math skills also improved. Hopelink was helpful because I could test every three months and see how I was making progress.

Yeah. Each subject has a test and you take them separately. While I was working with the tutor, I took two of them and passed. After a while, I quit going to the tutor and just studied on my own and took the rest of the tests. I passed all but one on the first try, and passed that one on the second try. Definitely if the tutor hadn’t helped me, I wouldn’t have gotten my GED.

Lots of reasons. I knew if I wanted to make any money, I needed my GED. I also wanted to have that diploma to make me feel like I could succeed. The goal after getting my GED was to get into college and study to be either a counselor or a youth pastor. I decided youth pastor is the way to go, so I am hoping to get into Northwest College.

I’m working at Hopelink in their Overlake Child Development Center as an assistant preschool teacher. It’s great because I love kids. I’m also starting to study for the SAT test so I can apply to Northwest College. Also, I’ll be volunteering around my church this summer, with Vacation Bible School starting up. I also am part of the youth band at my church. We have gigs at churches and at Family Fun Center Christian night and stuff. We hope to make a CD this summer, so I’m going to be really busy.