Every month, we celebrate an Achiever who has shown growth, perseverance, and dedication to their goals. This month, in honor of National Literacy Month, we're shining a wider spotlight. With so many readers, writers, artists, and curious learners among our Achievers, choosing just one story didn't feel quite right.

So this September, we're celebrating the many ways Achievers across Friends of the Children–Boston read, write, create, and find their voices.

At Friends of the Children–Boston, literacy doesn't always look like sitting quietly with a book. Sometimes it looks like an Achiever standing in front of a room to read something she wrote herself. Sometimes it's a comic strip passed around Anime Club. And sometimes it's a group of soccer fans researching countries represented in the World Cup so they can come back and teach everyone else what they learned.

What connects all of those moments is that reading and writing become something Achievers can share with their Friends, their families, and one another.

Cate* and Sarah* wrote their own stories this year, from beginning to end, and then took on an even bigger challenge: sharing them out loud.

One chose bullying — and what it takes to keep going — as the subject of her story. Both presented their work at Libro Love, a school reading event, and read it again during Caregiver Game Night with their families in the room. Cate works with her Friend (mentor), Arline, and Sarah with Arlene.

Writing something of your own takes confidence. Standing up and letting the people who know you hear it takes another kind entirely.

Anime Club found another way to tell a story.

Every Achiever in Anime Club created a comic strip this year (story, artwork, and all), then read their work aloud and passed the pages around so everyone could see the panels up close. Their Friend, Mike, runs the group.

Then someone who tells stories for a living came to visit.

Greater Boston cartoonist and graphic novelist Raúl the Third spent an afternoon at our Roxbury location talking with Achievers about where stories come from, how his own work takes shape, and why those stories are worth telling. He came to us through the Boston Comic Arts Foundation and stayed to answer Achievers' questions about his work.

Anime Club had already spent months creating comics of their own. Then someone who does it for a living walked in and sat down with them.

Soccer Group read the tournament.

During summer programming, World Cup excitement became another reason to get curious. Achievers chose countries, read about them, and came back to report what they discovered about the places and people behind the jerseys. Eight national teams played group matches at Boston Stadium this summer: Haiti, Scotland, Iraq, Norway, Morocco, England, Ghana, and France.

One Achiever got even closer. This summer, she walked onto the field with Team Norway ahead of their match against France.

Friends of the Children–Boston pairs young people facing the greatest obstacles with a paid, professional mentor called a Friend, starting as early as pre-kindergarten and continuing through high school graduation. 12+ years, no matter what.

No one can know at four years old what will spark an Achiever's curiosity years later. That's part of what long-term mentorship makes possible: a Friend who has been around long enough to know what an Achiever might say yes to, and an Achiever who has been around long enough to know the room is on their side.

There are many ways to become a reader and many reasons to want to know more. Sometimes it starts with a book. Sometimes it's a comic, a favorite soccer team, or a story of your own that you're finally ready to share.

This National Literacy Month, we're celebrating every one of those stories.

Your support gives more Boston Achievers the time, encouragement, and trusted relationships they need to keep learning, creating, and finding their voices.

*Names changed to protect privacy.