Struggling to read well in school is something Kyla Hopper can relate to.

Now a 15-year-old Shelby High student, Kyla remembers toiling with reading in third grade, sure that it would never get easier, that it would never work - even failing her End of Grade test. The summer after that failure, in 2005, Kyla's grandmother, Angela Jeter, enrolled her in a literacy-based program called Freedom School - and reading finally began to click.

The next year, she was able to catch up academically. She kept coming to Freedom School in the summer. She kept passing her EOGs handily. And this year, although she has aged out of available programming, she's back at Freedom School - but as a "junior servant leader," telling her story of triumph to kids, and helping other volunteers, interns as the site coordinator at Highland Renaissance Elementary.

"Kyla is the classic story of growing up through Freedom School. Freedom School is about raising up leaders and raising up the next generation," said Mary Nell McPherson, executive director at Freedom School Partners, which runs the Charlotte sites.

The Freedom Schools program, which came to Charlotte in 2004, is a six-week, literacy-rich summer curriculum developed by the national Children's Defense Fund in 1992. Since that first year's program with 100 students, Charlotte's participation has grown to 15 Freedom Schools, serving about 1,000 children in 2011.

When Kyla first came to Freedom School, she said, teachers were kind and she was able to feel comfortable reading in the classroom because they gave her tools to read effectively. Now, she said, the most inspiring part of her day is working with the kindergarten-age children, and sharing her story.

"We are a service-oriented family," Jeter said. "I'm just extremely proud of her and her willingness to give back."

College in his sights

Asael Salinas, 11, from Charlotte's Northridge Middle, also wanted to give back.

Asael attended Freedom School at the Hickory Grove Presbyterian Church site last year.

"This year, they didn't have a level III class, so I wanted to be a volunteer," said Asael, whose parents are immigrants from El Salvador. "I like all the books that we read, and it helps kids not get behind in the summer. Just being a volunteer, it was a lot of work... I just saw what teachers have to go through," he said. "So you should always respect your teachers and not give them a hard time."

Asael said he hopes to come back to the program each summer, and particularly enjoys working with the college interns. That's because he hopes to be the first in his family to go to college (he's aiming for Harvard) and wants to study law or become a teacher.

Amanda Bottoms is one of those college interns, working closely with the junior servant leaders. The first summer that Bottoms, 20, participated in Freedom School, she said, she developed a soft spot for a student who was living with an abusive father. After that first summer, Bottoms changed her major at Winston-Salem State from exercise science to social work.

What keeps her coming back? "The kids," she said. "I absolutely love the program and I've seen first-hand that it's effective."

Said executive director McPherson: "We've got many college students who are first generation or who say, 'I grew up hard like you did and you can make it.'"

'I know I can make it'

Each morning, children at Freedom School begin their day with Harambee, a high-energy pep rally that kicks off the day with song, dance and a volunteer reading at 9 a.m. Harambee is Kiswahili for "Let's pull together," and is meant to be a time to celebrate each participant in Freedom School, McPherson said.

At the Highland Renaissance School site, the energy was high during a recent Harambee. Two boys sat on stage drumming on utilities buckets to start the Hallelujah chorus, while the crowd chimed in to the beat. A group of little boys cut up near the stage, while the rest of the students in the gym threw their arms over their heads, flailing to the beat of drums. Near the end, about 100 young voices could be heard shouting the chorus of a South African apartheid song: "Something inside so strong, I know I can make it!"

"We want them to be excited about learning," said McPherson, "to believe that they can make a difference."

Kyla hopes her story touches the younger students. "I think I inspire kids to want to stay in Freedom School."