Reading Is the Key

How one student’s difficult beginning became a lifelong commitment to helping children—and the adults who love them—build strong foundations for learning.

BY MDK   |   AUGUST 17, 2026   |   7-MINUTE READ

The BIG Idea

A child's earliest literacy experiences can shape far more than reading ability. They can shape confidence, curiosity and the course of a life.

Many years ago, I heard a speaker explain that children spend their earliest years learning to read—and then begin reading to learn. The idea was offered in another context, but it carried me immediately back to the beginning of my own education.

By the time I graduated from high school, I had earned a 97 percent average. That achievement fulfilled an agreement with my parents: if I had the grades to go anywhere, I could choose where I would study. My heart was set on Hampton University. Its acceptance letter was the first to arrive, and I could not wait to make “my home by the sea” my own.

But the journey to that moment was not a straight line. I attended private schools throughout my childhood—an opportunity whose value and rigor I understood more fully as I grew older. Yet a school’s reputation alone cannot guarantee that every child receives what they need. That is why parents and guardians matter so deeply: they are a child’s first teachers and, ideally, their fiercest advocates.

The years that changed everything

My nursery and kindergarten experience did not give me the foundation I needed. My parents recognized the problem and transferred me to a new school, but those two early years had already left their mark. By first grade, classmates were beginning to use reading as a tool for learning while I was still working to master reading itself.

My desk was placed beside the teacher so I could receive help throughout the day. Ms. Strom was hired as my tutor and remained with me from first through sixth grade. Test-taking was difficult, and the grades I wanted often felt out of reach. Still, the adults around me refused to let struggle become destiny.

“The adults around me refused to let struggle become destiny.”

I still remember one evening in Sag Harbor when unfamiliar words flashed across a television screen. Proudly, I told my parents that I had sounded out every one. Then the program explained that the invented words were meant to simulate the experience of illiteracy. The moment deflated me. Yet another memory stands beside it: the day I finally earned a grade that made me proud, and Ms. Strom and I hugged in the hallway. One moment exposed the sting of being behind; the other showed the power of being seen, supported and celebrated.

Discovering how I learn

After sixth grade, I moved to a new school. By ninth grade, a teacher asked why my grade in his class was my lowest. His question pushed me to think about which subjects energized me and how I learned best. Years later, I would recognize this inquiry in the language of multiple intelligences—and even participate in a panel discussion on the subject in Paris; at Columbia Paris.

That period also clarified my love of science and S.T.E.A.M. A gifted science teacher (Mr. Einstein) helped me see not only facts and formulas, but the logic, investigation and possibility behind them. What had begun as a struggle to access learning became a desire to understand how learning works.

From personal history to public purpose

My formative educational experiences did more than influence my grades. They shaped my career and the lens through which I view children, families and communities. For more than two decades, my work has focused on curriculum, policy, funding and quality assurance—especially in early childhood education and the wraparound services that help families thrive.

The lesson is both personal and practical: access matters, but quality matters too. Children need strong instruction. Families need trusted guidance. Communities need health, education and social supports that work together rather than in isolation.

Literacy begins before the first book

A strong reading foundation is built long before a child reads independently. Pre-literacy experiences help children hear and play with sounds, recognize letters, expand vocabulary, follow a story and connect spoken language to meaning. The most effective activities feel less like drills and more like discovery: songs, rhymes, conversation, picture walks, storytelling and playful sound games.

READING AT HOME Five small practices with lasting value

1. Talk: Describe the day, ask open ended questions and give children time to answer. 2. Rhyme: Use songs, picture reading, and wordplay to help children notice the sounds inside language. 3. Notice: Point out letters, labels and signs during ordinary routines. 4. Predict: Pause during stories and invite children to imagine what may happen next. 5. Repeat: Return to favorite books; familiarity builds fluency, confidence and joy.

Parents and guardians belong at the center of this work. When adults join literacy activities, they learn techniques they can use at home while children experience consistency across settings (Home School Connection). The goal is not to turn every caregiver into a classroom teacher. It is to make language and reading a natural part of daily life—and to give adults practical tools that feel welcoming, accessible and achievable.

Guided reading prompts, phonics games and interactive storytelling can all help. So can the simplest habits: naming objects at the grocery store, making up rhymes on the bus, talking about a picture before turning the page or asking a child to retell a familiar story in their own words. Small interactions, repeated with warmth and intention, become the architecture of literacy.

A promise carried forward

Early childhood education is the foundation of an academic journey, but no institution builds that foundation alone. Educators, healthcare professionals, parents, guardians and community partners each hold part of the work. When those supports align, children gain more than skills: they gain the confidence to see themselves as capable learners.

I know what it feels like to sit beside the teacher because extra help is necessary. I also know what it feels like to reach a goal that once seemed distant—and to carry that victory all the way to Hampton University and into a career devoted to children, families, and communities.

Reading was a key in my life. Our shared responsibility is to place that key within every child’s reach.