                     A MILESTONE FOR CHARIE 

                   by HOWARD R. STEWART, 33 
                       7919 Joliet Avenue 
                      Lubbock, Texas 79423 

In a recent graduation of the Scottish Rite Learning Center of 
West Texas in Lubbock, 22 classroom teachers and 44 dyslexic 
students from Texas and neighboring states received either a 
teaching certificate or a diploma indicating completion of the 
center's curriculum. 

   One member of this class was a delightful young woman named 
Charie Morse. She not only holds a certificate from the West 
Texas Center's teacher training program, but also earned a 
bachelor's degree in education at Texas Tech University in 
Lubbock, Texas. With the diploma from the learning center, 
Charie is qualified to teach dyslexics how to read, write and 
spell properly. After completing an internship, she will also 
be certified as an alphabetics-phonics language therapist. 

   Why are we telling you about something which seems such a 
routine affair? Because Charie is a very special person. She 
has now graduated from The Scottish Rite Learning Center of 
West Texas twice: once as a dyslexic student and, most 
recently, as a teacher of dyslexics. 

   She is the first former student to return to the center for 
teacher training. After receiving her diploma, she said,"I can 
now fulfill my life goal, to help others with learning 
differences." 

   Like most dyslexics, Charie's general intelligence level is 
well above average. Doing well in school until about the fourth 
grade, she then found she could no longer keep pace with her 
peers. Her grades began to drop, and in the fifth grade, she 
was placed in the lowest reading group which made her feel 
"totally humiliated." 

   In high school, Charie was a cheerleader and active in 
Future Homemakers of America, but in class it was obvious 
something was wrong. Charie says, "I would study for hours and 
never pass a test. I begged my teachers to let me make up my 
grade by doing extra work or by giving oral book reports. In 
all my reading courses I had a friend correct my papers, and 
then I would rewrite them." 

   To this she added, "I remember such instances as taking 
telephone numbers down for my father in a summer job. But when 
Dad would try to return the calls, the numbers were often 
wrong. Also, I remember how much I hated math." 

   In college, Charie failed her first round of tests. She was 
too embarrassed to show her professors a letter explaining her 
learning difference. Many people helped, including a woman 
whose husband was a Mason. He told her of a Scottish Rite 
Center in Lubbock for people with learning problems. In 
Charie's own words, "I drove over to the Scottish Rite Temple 
and walked into the most wonderful place in the world. I can 
say absolutely that had I not been directed towards the 
learning center I would have never made it through college." 

   Once she was willing to accept the huge, black "DS" for 
"Disabled Student" on her student ID card, her task became 
easier. Friends, including her future hus band, read to her and 
recorded notes from lectures. She was also allowed to take 
tests in a room by herself with unlimited time. Finally, she 
received her first "A" on a college examination. 

   After graduation from college, Charie began her professional 
career as a first-grade elementary teacher in Lubbock. Soon 
thereafter, she entered teacher training at the Scottish Rite 
Learning Center of West Texas. One of the requirements of the 
center was that she train a dyslexic person, and this she did 
on her own time. 

   The Lena W. Waters Memorial Teacher Training Program of the 
Scottish Rite Learning Center of West Texas has graduated 84 
language therapists since its inception in 1984, and 41 
additional classroom teachers are currently enrolled in the 
two-year program. Several hundred dyslexics have either trained 
or received counseling at the center since it opened in 1975, 
and approximately 3,000 dyslexic children are receiving 
remedial training in their own schools under the direction of 
teachers who have graduated from or are now enrolled in the 
Lubbock Scottish Rite Center's programs. 

   Charie Morse will always be remembered as a star pupil of 
the center which eagerly awaits its next opportunity to offer 
teacher training to one of its former students. Currently an 
elementary teacher in Westminster, Colorado, Charie continues 
to teach dyslexic children and adults how to read. 

   She is the first to acknowledge that her learning difference 
still exists, saying, "I know I will never be completely 
normal, but I am as close as I will ever get." 

   Her lifetime goal is to return the favor that the Scottish 
Rite Center of West Texas has given to her. She says, "I know 
that there is a student out there who needs me!"   


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Brother Stewart is a member of the Lubbock, TX, S.R. Bodies, 
Chairman of the Board of Directors of The S.R. Learning Center 
of West Texas, and serves on the Board of Trustees of the Texas 
S.R. Hospital for Children in Dallas. 

