Friends Welcome New and Familiar Faces to Board
The Friends of CLC are very excited to welcome two new Board members.
Eleanor Stafford, a valued member of the CLC staff for eight years, recently left for a job at Greater Lawrence Technical School (GLTS) in Andover.
At the CLC, Eleanor served many roles, including curriculum coordinator and teacher for the Adult Basic Education (ABE) Reading program, ABE program coordinator, and Bridge to College coordinator and advisor. In her current job at GLTS, she does institutional writing (e.g., newsletter, website content, and grant narratives) and helps vocational teachers – plumbers, electricians, cosmetologists, auto mechanics – develop their curricula and teaching skills.
An English major at Harvard, Eleanor has pursued an interest in writing throughout her career. Her former jobs include 4th and 5th grade teacher; learning disabilities specialist at Lesley University’s Center for Academic Achievement; EqualAccess program manager for Libraries for the Future, a nonprofit dedicated to envisioning libraries as civic centers; GED teacher at a homeless shelter in Dorchester; ESL teacher at Harvard Bridge to Learning and Literacy; and then the CLC.
Along the way, she got her M.Ed. at Lesley, where she found her classmates to be “progressive, idealistic people from all backgrounds” and her experience there to be “inspiring and amazing.” Eleanor continues with two of her past jobs: leading intensive courses to prepare teachers and paraprofessionals for the MA Tests for Educator Licensure (MTEL) and literacy trainer for Literacy Volunteers of Massachusetts.
As a single mom of a preteen, busy professional, and now a Board member, Eleanor feels she’s living proof of the adage, “If you want something done, ask the busiest person you know.”
Achilles Gatsonis was born in Massachusetts to two parents who immigrated from Greece. He graduated from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), where he studied Chemical Engineering. In January, he will start a master’s degree in Biomedical Engineering at Brown University. He is also in the process of applying to medical school.
Achilles is excited to engage in service-oriented work, particularly where he can make use of his scientific and technical background. In high school, he worked with the Seven Hills Foundation on a team project to develop an assistive device to help people eat independently. For two years during the COVID pandemic, he was the networking chair of the WPI chapter of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. In this position, he organized online seminars with industry professionals to provide students with networking opportunities, while also learning about the different facets of chemical engineering and potential career paths.
Drawn to the Friends of the Community Learning Center by a passion for education, Achilles is inspired by the meaningful and crucial work done by nonprofits such as the Friends. He plans to use his technical background to help the Friends develop a more effective website and online presence. He and the other members of the Friends’ Technical Team are currently investigating online methods and resources to help raise awareness about the Community Learning Center via the website.
We cannot stress enough how happy we are to have both Eleanor and Achilles on the Board of the Friends of CLC.
