LVA-New River Valley, Christiansburg, VA, considers Judy Vest a very special student. Now a high school graduate who came to the program as a beginner in reading, Judy was recognized for her outstanding achievements as a student as the 1997-98 Ruth J. Colvin Basic Literacy Student of the Year. In 1999, she was chosen as the Ruth J. Colvin Student Leader of the Year.

As her program�s Basic Literacy Student of the Year, Judy served as a member of the Board of Directors. She made a number of contributions to board discussions about issues affecting students without ever missing a board meeting or board event. She actively participated in fund-raising events and won board approval for a yard sale. Impressed with Judy�s enthusiasm and hard work, the board recently elected her to an additional two-year term as a board member. LVA-New River Valley calls Judy an indispensable part of its fund-raising efforts, recently having spoken to employee groups as part of the local United Way campaign. When Judy first began to deliver these speeches, she was always accompanied by a staff or board member. For one of her most recent speeches, she went on her own saying, "I want to show you that I can do this on my own."

With her tutor, Susan Mead, Judy conducted a workshop at the Virginia Literacy Fair on the importance of tutors and students working together as a team. Judy wrote a description of the workshop for the LVA-New River Valley student newsletter. She also co-facilitated a statewide workshop for adult educators on goal setting. She helps train new tutors and hopes to become one herself some day. She provides office support whenever needed, and coordinates a special section of the newsletter, Student-to-Student, that asks students to share their experiences.

Hoping to help children to have better literacy learning experiences than she did, Judy has worked to develop a family literacy program in cooperation with a local elementary principal. Judy proposed a student support group to an audience of nearly 200 saying, "I think sometimes students just need someone to listen to them. If they are having a bad day or if they feel uncomfortable talking about not being able to read everything, they need someone who understands. And they�ll feel more comfortable with someone who has already been down that road and who has faced some of the same problems." Remarkably, Judy has managed to do all this while still continuing to meet with her tutor on a regular basis.

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