Aung Niang, Abisi Adult Education Center graduate

by Jen Myers

LOWELL – Facing persecution and imprisonment for opposing the military dictatorship, Aung Naing was forced to flee his homeland of Burma.

He and his wife, Thiri Thet Wai OO, spent six months in Thailand before being granted acceptance into a refugee resettlement program. In December 2022, Naing and his wife, arrived in Lowell, knowing only a few words of English.

Naing quickly started ESL classes at Abisi Adult Education Center and was encouraged by a teacher to also study to earn his high school equivalency.

“I saw students from all around the world,” Naing said at this year’s Abisi graduation at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium on June 5. “All of us had different cultures from all around the world, but we studied all together in one classroom. I think of Abisi as a flower garden where different flowers blossom.”

In Burma, Naing published three books: “An Introduction to Democracy,” “A Handbook of Democracy,” and “Nationalism,” as well as having written many short stories and essays, working as an editor, and serving as a political activist and trainer.

Now that he can speak English and has earned his high school credential, Naing is looking forward to continuing his education and writing books in English.

“I see having my high school credential as a key to open any door,” he said, expressing gratitude to all of his teachers at Abisi. “It was this key that allowed me to study at Middlesex Community College this spring.”

There were hundreds of success stories among the graduates in the auditorium that night. They were represented by Naing and Olesia Tymchak.

Olesia Tymchak speaks at the Abisi Adult Education Center ceremony.

Tymchak came to the U.S. from Ukraine three years ago and has been studying English at Abisi for two years.

She remembered when she first arrived, trying to read labels at the grocery store and Googling the words to figure out what the items were.

“I was afraid to speak, afraid to ask questions,” she said.

Abisi, she said, became her safe place. She went from simply surviving to growing and being part of a community – and giving a speech IN ENGLISH – to an auditorium full of people.

“It gave me confidence; it helped me believe in myself,” Tymchak said about the school.

This year, Abisi Adult Education Center Director Betty McKiernan said, the school served nearly 1,500 adult students ages 16-71 hailing from 55 countries and speaking 35 languages to learn English and/or earn their high school credentials.

Classes are held in the main building on Merrimack Street (the old Green School), as well as at satellite locations: the Moody Elementary School, Community Teamwork, Inc. (CTI), the Cambodian Mutual Assistance Association (CMAA), the Massachusetts Alliance of Portuguese Speakers (MAPS), and Love All Serve All (LASA); they also offer remote classes in the mornings and evenings.

This year, 603 students earned a certificate of completion in English as a Second Language Studies and 66 earned their High School Equivalency.

McKiernan explained that students at Abisi learn much more than English, but also Math, Social Studies, Civics, and conversation. They tour Lowell City Hall and the Lowell National Historical Park; they visit the Pollard Memorial Library where they sign up for library cards. And thanks to ESOL teacher Susan Silk, rolling library carts have been added to the school, allowing students to take out books both for themselves and their children. Students have written book reports and started book clubs.

Forty-two students are taking the citizenship class and so far, nine have passed the test and are on their way to becoming U.S. citizens.

The students and staff at the Abisi don’t just have their noses stuck in books all day, however. They are also becoming part of the community by giving back.

They have donated boxes upon boxes of food to the Dwelling House of Hope’s pantry; raised $550 through a holiday raffle for local non-profit It’s All About the Kids; put together bags of toiletries for Lowell Community Health Center to distribute to women in need for International Women’s Day; and raised $2,090 for Lowell General Hospital’s TeamWalk for Cancer Care.

“I think you can clearly see what a wonderful group of students and staff we have at Abisi Adult Education Center,” said McKiernan.

The school partners with 40 local organizations such as: Lowell Community Health Center, whose staff helps students set up medical appointments and apply for health insurance; MassHire, where students are introduced to job search services and have attended in-person and virtual job fairs; Workers Credit Union and Jeanne D’Arc Credit Union, who have provided financial literacy classes; UMass Lowell, who set up a help desk and computer class for Abisi students; and Mill City Grows, who held a cooking demonstration where students learned how to properly measure ingredients and how to read a recipe card.

The graduates and their families were joined by Superintendent of Schools Liam Skinner, former State Sen. Steve Panagiotakos, Mayor Dan Rourke, former Mayor John Leahy, Assistant Superintendent for Student Support Services Alice Brown-Legrand, Assistant Superintendent for School Leadership Wendy Crocker-Roberge, and School Committee members Connie Martin and Dominik Lay who presented the graduates with their certificates.

“There is nothing in my work that makes me more happy than to be with you and among you in your celebration tonight,” said Superintendent of Schools Liam Skinner.

“I know that you have overcome many many challenges before you came here and during your time here,” Skinner said. “Education is hard. Learning is hard for all of our students, but you have been learning while you have young families, while you are trying to get a job, while you are trying to find housing, and while you many of you are trying to learn English. What you have done and how you’ve persisted is very inspirational for us and we are grateful for your strength and that you show us that example.”

Mayor Rourke applauded the courage, persistence, and successes of the students, calling Abisi “one of Lowell’s hidden gems.”

“We can see the fruits of the center here – all the work of the staff and the students who have gone through it to further themselves,” he said, pausing to recognize McKiernan as one of the city’s unsung heroes.

“It is her dedication, selflessness and her heart that wants to improve the city of Lowell,” Rourke said, giving her credit for helping Lowell move forward by providing such high-quality education and support to its residents.

Panagiotakos said the graduates who are new to the country remind him of his own grandparents, who came to the U.S. from an isolated mountainous region of Greece in 1910.

“Like many of you, they came not knowing the language, not knowing the culture, with very little material wealth,” he said. “But they came with a dream; a dream of a better life for themselves, for their children and for their children’s children. They worked hard and sacrificed; and I stand here today as a beneficiary of their efforts. I say thank you to them just as your children and your children’s children will one day look back on you with great appreciation and thanks.”

Panagiotakos shared an observation he often reflects on, made by educator and orator Booker T. Washington, the first African American invited to the White House to confer with a president (Theodore Roosevelt).

“I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed,” Washington said.

“Looking out at all of you if he were here today, he would be thinking – success!” said Panagiotakos.

Every journey to success, he added, is one of five steps: Hope, Action, Purpose, Perseverance, and Yield.

They have all taken those steps to reach the milestones celebrated at graduation, but there is always more to achieve, a next level to that dream.

“As you continue on your journey to achieving your goal, to realizing your dream, you will undoubtedly face obstacles – they could be family issues, financial issues, medical issues, transportation issues, other people issues, or just everyday life issues,” he said. “To get through them or around them you must have perseverance, you must not give up.”

“I can tell you this with 100 percent certainty,” Panagiotakos added. “If you give up, you’ll never realize your hope.”