Profile Written by: Ben Hollingshead, Volunteer
Words Alive 2023 Curriculum Writer of the Year, Kaley O’Hare, is an incredible volunteer with an eye for detail and a boundless enthusiasm to take on multiple projects.
Kaley is from Southern California and graduated from the University of California at Santa Barbara last summer. She now lives in Northern California and works as an Urgent Care Medical Scribe as she prepares to apply to medical school for the upcoming admissions cycle.
While Kaley loves a good story, she believes books do much more than just tell a tale. “Books can develop our creativity and imagination, critical thinking, change our viewpoints, connect people worldwide, and much more.” Words Alive caught her eye when she was searching for ways to volunteer, and she was hooked when she got the chance to read and create a curriculum. She spent 130 volunteer hours this past year as a Curriculum Writer, Editor, and Designer dedicated to producing high-quality curriculum guides for teens in the Adolescent Book Group. As a writer, she focuses on identifying the essential messages in each book and developing questions that build the student’s critical thinking skills as they explore the book’s key messages. A true pinch-hitter, Kaley is an incredible writer and assists with curriculum editing and design. In her free time, she writes short stories and even dabbles in animating. Kaley enjoys how her work on the curriculum team has expanded the diversity of books she reads and finds significant meaning in the thought that her work on these curriculum guides may contribute to shaping the story of the student’s lives, both in and out of the classroom.
Volunteering with Words Alive has also helped Kaley grow as a reader – her critical thinking and analytical skills while writing curriculum guides have become second nature when reading anything, helping her more deeply connect with the text. “I’m immensely proud to be a volunteer with Words Alive, where I have developed just as much of a love for learning from creating guides as the students who will use them. It’s incredible being part of a team that works toward ensuring that students and families can thrive through the power of literacy!” She hopes to stay on board with Words Alive in her current role and possibly additional roles. Kaley, thank you for all your hard work, and congratulations on winning the Curriculum Writer of the Year!
Book recommendation: She is currently (re)reading Firekeeper’s Daughter. She also highly recommends Ivy Aberdeen’s Letter to the World and When You Trap a Tiger for middle-school readers and Firekeeper’s Daughter and The Henna Wars for high-schoolers!