Walking a path of courage

When ELI grad Carolina Correa returned to Newark in 1999, she stuffed her suitcases with gifts from her own students in Brazil.

Carolina Correa

"I promised them I would bring them with me," Correa said of the 20 handdrawn posters which lined her bags.The mementos -- covered with colorful pictures and words of praise -- were presented to Correa, 25, in appreciation for the first English class she ever taught. Correa -- now studying for her master's in English at the University of Delaware -- volunteered to teach the night school class as a kind of fund raiser, with the fees her students paid going to help a drug rehabilitation hospital in São Paolo. By teaching, Correa was able to share something she had learned in the United States, first in her classes at ELI and later as an undergraduate at UD. "Here I learned to apply what I was learning to real life situations," she said, "and to take charge of my own learning."

Correa is so enthusiastic about teaching students to be active English learners that she's considering going for a doctorate. The goal is all the more notable because of her own personal challenges.

Each time Correa returns home, she visits her physician, Dr. Milberto Scaff. "He almost cries now when he sees me," Correa said. "He never expected that I would go so far, that I would succeed so much."

When Correa was born three and a half months premature, doctors feared she would be severely disabled, both mentally and physically. As an infant, she underwent a series of tests to determine the extent of her cerebral palsy. Fortunately, Correa's mental capacities were sound. But doctors predicted she would never walk on her own.

Yet Correa's parents refused to give up. And neither did Dr. Scaff, who believed Correa could overcome many of her physical disabilities. Together, they set goals for the child.

Correa began to swim daily from the age of nine months. As a child, she had to wear metal braces which extended from her feet to her waist, and she used full length crutches to walk.

Schools in Brazil were ill-equipped at the time to deal with disabled children, said Correa, and at first no school would accept her. Her grandmother taught her to read and write and tutored her daily until, finally, her parents found a private school which admitted her.

Afternoons were reserved for physical therapy. When she was five, her grandparents bought her a horse and, to develop her sense of balance, she mastered horseback riding. Little by little, Correa gained control over her legs until she was able to walk slowly on her own.

She gained admittance to one of the better schools which earlier had refused her, prepared for university entrance exams and entered McKenzie University as an English major before coming to ELI for two months in 1994.

At ELI, Correa experienced more success. Not only did she graduate with honors, but she also stood up with other Film class students and delivered a forceful performance as Cora in The Last of the Mohicans at the graduation ceremony.

As an undergraduate and now a grad student at UD, Correa has had to overcome a few administrative hurdles -- translating all her transcripts and course descriptions from Portuguese into English to get transfer credit, for example -- but, on the whole, she said, day-to-day life is easier here.

Getting from point A to point B, for example, poses less of a problem in Newark for Correa, who still uses elbowlength crutches, because the roads and pavements are much smoother than in São Paulo. And traffic is not as crazy.

But also, Correa explained, people are much more accepting of physical disabilities here than in Brazil, where physically challenged individuals are generally shut off from mainstream society.

"When I tell people in Brazil that I'm studying at an American university, they almost faint," said Correa. "Here, they say,'Oh, you go to UD? Great!"'

Despite the challenges, Correa plans to return to Brazil upon completion of her studies, where she will work and continue to volunteer.

"I know I can't save the world," she said, "but I can at least help a few people. And by giving, I receive much more."

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