CHAREK IN THIRD CAREER, HELPS AS LITERACY VOLUNTEER

Michael Charek is in his third career, helping out as a literacy volunteer in the Adult Basic Education program at the Cape Girardeau Vocational-Technical School.

The 67-year-old Charek usually spends his Monday and Thursday mornings working with literacy students, while his wife works as a volunteer at Southeast Missouri Hospital.

Charek, who grew up in Romania and came to the United States in 1949 from Germany, enjoys helping others. He gladly tutors Adult Basic Education participants in everything from physics to English.

Charek spent 25 years in the Air Force, retiring in 1976. His second career was as a college professor. He taught in the industrial technology department at Southeast Missouri State University for 11 years before retiring in 1990.

He started volunteering about a year and a half ago, assisting individuals in the English As a Second Language program as well those seeking their GED. He estimates he has tutored 10 to 12 people since then.

In the literacy program, there is no timetable to completion, he points out. "It is totally open-ended, beginnings and endings."

Charek currently is tutoring a Chinese woman who is a waitress at a local restaurant and wants to improve her English.

She also wants to better herself in other ways. "She wants to learn how to drive. She wants to learn how to use a computer."

Charek is helping a 69-year-old man with his grammar and vocabulary. The man wants to be a preacher.

He tutored a divorced mother, with seven children. She wanted to obtain a teaching degree and needed help with math.

Charek tutored her for about four months. The woman started classes at Southeast this fall.

Charek gets satisfaction out of such success stories. "It sounds shopworn, but it is a feeling of accomplishment. I enjoy it."