This is the text of the opening presentation during AALL's conference in Benson, AZ on February 4, 20005

My name is Eli Wilson and I was born in Colon City, Panama.  My husband and I met while he was stationed in Panama after a two-year tour in Vietnam.  I studied at the Academia de Matematicas y Comercio until I got married.  

I was happy to be married and raise my children, but ever since I left school, I always dreamed of continuing my education.  

 My father, who has been the most influential person in my life, was a man who instilled a love for education in all his children.  He was an educated man.  He loved to read and he encouraged us to read.   He read newspapers, books, encyclopedias, everything.  He loved mythology and geography.  You could ask him a question about anything and he knew the answer.  As children, we wanted to be like him.  My oldest sister went away to school and came home every summer to be with us.  She would ask my dad so many questions.  After my dad told her the answer, she still wanted to see for herself.  She would find her own answer in a book and she would say, “It’s true.  It’s true.” 

 The same values my father instilled in me about reading and writing, I passed down to my children.  And I know they will pass this love of reading down to their own children too. 

 I believe education is very important for people of all races.  If people went to school and learned more, the world would be a better place.  If they could read, people would know what is going on in the world.  We need to read to understand what is happening and why.  One of the reasons I believe there is so much poverty and tyranny in the world, is because people have not had the opportunity to get an education.  Just like my sister, if people could read, they would compare what someone tells them and what they read.  They would find out what is true.

 A few years ago when my youngest child finished high school and decided to move to another state, Missouri, I returned to school.  For me this was very exciting.  I love the atmosphere of the classroom environment. I like to be in school.   At the beginning I was apprehensive, not having been in a classroom for almost 32 years.  There are times that I felt frustrated and I wanted to stop. 

 One of the things that adult students need when we return to school is encouragement.  It’s very hard to go back to school or to learn a new language. 

 I am very grateful to be able to read and write my in my native language, Spanish, and to understand the English

 language as well. 

 I have met wonderful teachers with different styles of teaching.  I am learning from each and every one of them.  Right now I have completed all of the GED except mathematics, which but the way, I am starting to like.  And it’s all due to teachers who take the time to explain to students how to work out a problem, how to write, and how to read. 

 Last year, I was given the wonderful opportunity to work as a student aide in the adult education program, something I am proud of and I cherish. 

 Last week I was in the beginning level English class helping the students and I heard a student from Turkey, another from Syria, and another from Vietnam speaking their native languages.  Now I am inspired to learn these languages as well so I can talk with the students. 

 I know I need more and I am planning to continue my education, God willing, not only for myself but also for my children.  I would like them to know that education is important.  And I would like them to be proud of me. 

 They all encourage me to continue.

 I do hope to become a teacher so I can help and encourage others to keep going on in their studies, regardless of how hard it may seem. 

 Last but not least, to the teachers in the audience.   I would like to say that adult education has a great impact of many lives, just as it has had a great impact on mine.  Even though you may not see the results immediately, you, as teachers, are opening doors for us.  Doors that many of us had never thought of opening before. 

 So keep up the good work.