Baylor Literacy Programs Receive $81,000 from Scottish Rite

by Judy Long
In a ceremony Wednesday on the Baylor University campus, the Waco Scottish Rite Bodies presented two checks totaling $81,000 to Camp Success and Baylor's language and literacy clinic. Cindy Dougherty, Baylor assistant vice-president of foundation development, and Grant Teaff, who served as the honorary chair of the 2005 Scottish Rite Charitable Golf Tournament to raise the funds, accepted the checks.
Dr. David Garrett, chair of the department of communication sciences and disorders, and Dr. Michaela Ritter, Camp Success director and associate professor of speech pathology, thanked the Scottish Rite for its support of Baylor's literacy efforts.
"We are so thankful for what the Scottish Rite has done for Baylor and Camp Success. The money they raise has helped so many children get intensive language and reading intervention. It's amazing how much they've given, not only money but also in service," Ritter said.
Garrett welcomed the nearly 100 guests to the presentation and attributed the year-long efforts of the Waco Scottish Rite to enable Camp Success to take place. He credited the phenomenal success of the camp, now in its third year, to Ritter and her thorough research of every known technique to treat language and literacy problems.
Wallace Daniel, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, thanked the Waco Scottish Rite on behalf of the College of Arts and Sciences and Baylor University. "The way to measure the health of a society is by the way it treats its young, and today our society looks healthy," he said.
Daniel cited a Camp Success student who told him, "Two weeks ago I read a sentence, a week ago I read a paragraph, and today I read a book." The camp is currently two weeks into the month-long program.
Scottish Rite Bodies chair Claude Ervin recognized the help of community partners for the camp. Wal-Mart contributed $4,000, and Shipley Donuts, Dr. Pepper, Oak Farms and Blue Bell have all given products for snacks for the children.
Ritter said the language and literacy clinic recently has added computers, furniture and books purchased through grants from the Baylor-Waco Foundation. The foundation has contributed $95,000 over the past two years, and the Scottish Rite has donated $182,000 in the past three years.
Offered at no cost to parents, Camp Success currently has 57 children aged five to 18 enrolled for individual and small-group attention. Each child is receiving two hours of language intervention and an hour of instruction from a reading specialist each day. In four weeks, the students will achieve as much progress as a typical student would in one year.