Serving More Young Readers

A Love of Reading Prompts a Leadership Gift From a UNL Alumna and Trustee

By Susan Houston Klaus

Catherine “Kit” Schmoker has fond memories of a junior high teacher who loved reading. She remembers, too, reading to her three children before they were even born and later taking them to their local library.

These recollections have stayed with Schmoker, a University of Nebraska Foundation Trustee, all these years. They’re one reason she has made a leadership gift to help the Kit and Dick Schmoker Reading Center at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln expand its services to communities, schools and children throughout Nebraska.

Named for Kit and her late husband, Richard “Dick” Schmoker, both UNL alumni, and established in 2008, the center provides individualized, one-on-one instruction to students who are reading below grade level. It typically serves 45 to 90 students per semester.

Tutoring at the reading center is provided by graduate and undergraduate students in the College of Education and Human Sciences under the direction of faculty and certified teachers. Instruction is individualized, with the goal that each child improves his or her reading and writing skills, gains greater confidence as a reader and establishes a love for reading.

Schmoker’s most recent gift will allow teachers to partner with large and small school districts statewide to offer in-person, school-specific professional development and literacy coaching designed to implement evidence-based literacy instruction and systems.

A 1964 education graduate, Schmoker said bringing the center’s services to more children in Nebraska is crucial to helping as many young readers as possible.

“It’s very important that we can take that reading experience and expertise to other cities in the state where reading may not be readily available.”