An Interview with Geneseo Community Member, Morgan Hellquist

How long have you lived in Geneseo?

• I lived here from age 4 to 18, so 14 years. I then moved to Rochester to complete both my undergraduate and graduate schooling. I moved back to Geneseo at age 23 and still currently live here with my husband and two children now at age 27.

Do you enjoy living in Geneseo?

• I love living here especially because of the “small town” vibe it has.

Will your children go to Geneseo Central Schools?

• Yes (Morgan has a 3 ½ year old girl and a 1 ½ year old boy)

Are you involved in any community groups, clubs, or activities? If yes, which ones?

• My children and I attend the "Story Time" groups at the local library. We were attending regularly until my job interfered with the hours, but we are planning on going regularly again as I have just changed jobs. For the under 3 group (6 months to 3 years), it consists of songs and stories while the kids sit on the parents lap. For the preschool group, the kids sit on the carpet while the parents sit back and watch. They do read alouds, activities based on theme or book, and have toys for the kids to play with. My daughter is also in dance class at the Valley School.

Do you currently have an affiliation with Geneseo Central Schools?

• No, not really. There isn’t much geared toward younger children at the school. They do not offer a Pre-Kindergarten program, which is upsetting. The Geneseo Nursery School offers a Pre-Kindergarten program but the spots are very limited. The students that have been attending the school from the previous year get first picks and it leaves very few spots remaining. The Geneseo Nursery School is not affiliated with Geneseo Central Schools at all. I wish the Geneseo School District offered more options for children younger than Kindergarten.

Can you remember your literacy teaching from going through the Geneseo School District and living in the Geneseo community?

• I remember being really engaged at the elementary levels and being pushed to read and explore. We would have puppeteers come in and tell a story or would have guests come in and read to us. Once I reached the higher levels, I feel Geneseo really lacked in the literacy department. Reading wasn’t fun anymore because we had mandated literature that we were not interested in and I felt the teachers did not try to get us interested in it. It was just read to complete an assignment or to pass a test. I also feel that grammar was a neglected topic. Once I got to college I realized how little I knew about grammar. Overall I feel when I went through the school district, Geneseo lacked vertical alignment when teaching.

Which literacy instructions do you and your family partake in?

• My kids have gone to daycare and receive instruction through that, but we also do different things at home with them. My husband and I read with the kids together and we have story time before bed every night. I try to pick books with themes that relate to what is going on at the time, like Easter or spring. The kids also have flashcards that they like to play with that have letters on one side and pictures on the other. My daughter already knows about 23 out of the 26 alphabet letters. We talk about spelling our names and other words that are familiar to them. The kids also have these things called “Readers.” The book sits in the "Reader" and the pages have different shapes that correspond to shapes on the "Reader". When they push the shape that goes with that page, the "Reader" reads that page to them. They love to sit and “read” their books. Aside from actual things we do, we have tons of books in our toy room and lots of print-rich toys in the house.

Do you go to the library or are you in any groups through the library?

• Yes, we attend the library for the story time programs, which are weekly.

What local literacies or environmental literacies are you aware of in the community?

• For local literacies, I would have to say that the library would be the only thing that really comes to mind. For the environmental literacies, I receive the Linkage, which is a quarterly newsletter sent out to the taxpapers of the Geneseo Central School District. I also read articles from the LCN online and the Genesee Sun online. During the summer, special events will be advertised randomly and the High School also has story times every once in a while. This is where a reader would come in to do the read aloud for the kids, but these do not happen often.

What you like to see change in the Geneseo community?

• I would like to see more options for younger children. It would be great to have functions or a group for families that do not attend the local daycare to meet and get to know the other kids in the neighborhood, which they will be attending school with. Right now I do not feel that there are any programs like this for families to network within the community. This would also help to support the community with expectations for Kindergarten. Parents would be able to have resources and guidance as to what to is expected for their kids once they reach the school district.

What would you like to see stay the same in the Geneseo community?

• I love the “small town” feel here and I would not want to lose that. I like also being close to family and knowing a lot of people in the community. I feel safe having my family live in Geneseo.