THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, September 9, 1995 TAG: 9509090289
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Charlise Lyles
LENGTH: Medium: 75 lines
The light of learning is in Dolly Mae Lathan's 57-year-old eyes.
``I wasn't that good at math,'' she said, smiling sweeter than a honey dew melon. She had tried to understand algebra for years. ``I went to night school, but. . .''
Then one day on her job as a cafeteria worker at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, Lathan saw a bulletin: basic skills enhancement class.
She sharpened her pencils.
Algebra? ``I'm into it now,'' Lathan giggles like a schoolgirl two years later.
Her classroom is right at the heart of the hospital. Two days a week after finishing her regular shift, she joins about 15 other coworkers as students in a workplace reading, math and computer class.
Lessons go from grammar to compound sentences to fractions to factoring. Norfolk public school teachers like Betty Lohman teach. ``We just love her to death,'' said Lathan.
Workers can take one hour off the job to attend. The second hour is on them.
Students include some who dropped out and others who want to brush up.
Pattie Edmonds, a surgical instrument technician who has been at the hospital for 29 years, improved her grammar. ``Everyone needs to know how to write,'' Edmonds said.
So far, two participants have earned General Equivalency Diplomas.
``We recognize that some of our employees do not have the basic skills to change with the working environment,'' said Cynthia M. Kratzke of Sentara education and research. ``Companies now are restructuring. We're asking employees to do more, so they have to have better skills.''
From Ford to Motorola, work-place skills programs are in place.
At Sentara, I spoke with three employees with a total of 57 years of service. Their enthusiasm made the program seem late in coming.
Growing up in Robersonville, N.C., ``I didn't get to go to school,'' said Lathan. She went to sixth grade ``probably.''
For 23 years, she has served the hospital well. First in the laundry department. Now in the cafeteria.
At the salad bar, ``I stock the ice real good.'' Then she decorates with fruit, finessing it this way and that. ``I always try to make it look beautiful.''
Things are changing around the hospital. Lathan wants to be prepared.
So after working 6:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., she goes for the books on Mondays and Wednesdays.
In class, she met Roger Petaway Jr., a Sentara refuse collector for five years.
``Roger is smarter than I am,'' she said, slapping his shoulder gently. ``He teaches us.''
The grin on his face blows his modest cover. ``I've always been interested in math since I was a young man.'' Now 52, he left school around ninth grade.
What has he learned?
``I love that computer. I didn't ever think I'd get into that. I got one at home now, with CD-ROM,'' he said confidently.
He and Lathan are aspiring to GEDs. Said Petaway, ``I plan on moving up in the hospital.''
I apologize: In Thursday's column, I looked at how The Pilot reported the homicide of a white Virginia Beach girl compared to our coverage of four black men killed in Portsmouth. I said that of 36 Portsmouth murders between 1993 and 1994, none was reported on the MetroNews front or A1. Actually, there were 56 killings. Of those, the death of one white, female victim was reported on the front page in a story about another assault victim. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by BETH BERGMAN, Staff
Dolly Mae Lathan and Roger Petaway Jr. are participating in Sentara
Norfolk General's educational program.
by CNB