On Saturday, Belmont Park will host the 145th running of the Grade 1 Belmont
Stakes, a $1 million race over 1 1/2 miles that will pit Kentucky Derby hero Orb
against his Preakness Stakes conqueror Oxbow. There won’t be a Triple Crown in
the offing, but a dozen of their peers will take on the top two colts on what is
expected to be a rain-filled day. One of those is Freedom Child, who is coming
off an impressive performance over a sloppy track in the Peter Pan Stakes at
Belmont Park May 11.
Rain or shine, however, the Thoroughbreds that thrill the crowd in the
afternoon are tended to by the unsung heroes of the sport — the grooms and
hotwalkers who rise with the dawn to check on their charges. Recent decades have
seen a shift in the backstretch worker population, and a majority now hail from
Latin American countries such as Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico and Peru. Few of the
lower level workers are proficient in English, but initiatives such as the
Backstretch Education Fund (BEF) aim to provide English as a Second Language
(ESL) courses in conversation and literacy.
The BEF was established in 2002 by photographer Lisa Ford, who got the idea
after spending some mornings taking pictures at the track.
“I wanted to do something constructive that would offer an opportunity for
people to help themselves,” Ford said. “In the beginning, it took the form of
vocational training, but we began to see that language skills were even more
important.”
Since then, more than 3,000 workers have participated in the language
program. The BEF also opened “La Escuelita,” a language lab and communications
center, at Belmont Park in 2009. Last year, the non-profit organization teamed
up with the Backstretch Employee Services Team (BEST) to create the Backstretch
Bistro, which is located near Gate 6 at Belmont Park. Open on weekend evenings,
the Bistro offers the workers a place to gather in a cafe atmosphere on the
racetrack grounds. Coffee, tea and pastries are served, and bilingual reading
materials and films are also available.
“We’ve had increased participation and a number of our graduates have gone on
to better jobs,” Ford added. “There are a lot of people that want to improve
themselves, and this is a chance for them to do that.”
On Mondays and Tuesdays when there is no live racing, the BEF holds
three-hour ESL classes on the grounds at Belmont Park. Classes are held in
20-week sessions. As many as 50 workers attend the Level 1 class in a room in
the track kitchen building. There are two higher levels of classes, and
placement depends on their English proficiency at the outset. Claudia Gronsbell,
who teaches the highest Level 3 class, spent 16 years in local school systems
prior to joining the BEF.
“Our students come from all different places,” Gronsbell explained. “They
don’t speak English and they’re afraid of the environment beyond these walls.
One of the things we try to teach is that if you do learn English, you can go
from being a hotwalker to being a groom, and the trainers will see that and give
you more responsibility, and then you’ll make more money.”
Gronsbell is cognizant of the fact that her students have already spent hours
at work before they arrive in the classroom.
“It’s very hard for them, because they wake up at 4:30 in the morning to go
to work, and then they come here,” she offered. “But we do provide lunch. Once
students get to this level, they realize that they can go beyond — the higher
the level, the more motivated they are to learn. Some of them come here with
only the equivalent of a fourth-grade education. We also have a literacy group
for those that had no schooling before they came here.”
Those who have participated in the classes also learn to give back to the
community. Gronsbell’s home sustained severe damage during Hurricane Sandy, and
several of her students rallied to hold a bake sale and gather additional
donations. The $500 raised by Humberto Sanchez, Ricardo Munoz, Ruanis Garcia,
Virginia Perez, Hermenegilda Tepalcinga, John Jairo Vasquez, Maria Robles and
Charlie Gomez was donated to the FEGS Comfort Long Beach Initiative.
“I was really touched,” Gronsbell said.
The students in the Level 1 class have disparate educational achievements.
Classes for those beginners are taught by Aris Clemmons, who is pursuing a
doctorate in applied linguistics at Columbia University. The California native
arrived in New York in December, and also teaches Spanish at a Brooklyn high
school.
“Students come from varied levels of education that range from not being able
to write at all to having the equivalent of some high school in their native
language,” Clemons explained. “Level 1 is really about building a vocabulary. I
give them assignments and try to circulate through the class to see who might
need more attention. The range (in this class) is really large, but it gets
smaller in the next two levels.”
Students from the BEF classes will also be designing and painting a large
mural that will depict both their roots and future hopes. The idea behind the
project is to foster a greater sense of self esteem, which benefits both the
horse racing industry and the community at large.
Among the trainers whose workers have participated in the ESL classes offered
by the BEF is Tom Albertrani, who will saddle Freedom Child in the Belmont
Stakes.
“I only know a little (Spanish),” Albertrani admitted. “I’m lucky enough to
have two assistants who grew up speaking Spanish so that if I’m not able to
explain something, they can. I think it’s a great program that they have that
opportunity offered to them to help learn the language. And it helps the
communication, which makes for a better working environment.”
Freedom Child will get another crack at Orb Saturday, having finished second
to the eventual Kentucky Derby winner in a maiden race at Aqueduct last
November. The flashy chestnut will carry the yellow-and-black silks of West
Point Thoroughbreds and partners in the Belmont. Terry Finley, founder and
president of the ownership syndicate, has been a staunch supporter of the BEF.
“I’m a strong believer in education — it’s something that I’m passionate
about,” Finley said. “Awareness and education are critical to society as a
whole, and the ability to communicate effectively opens the door to further
opportunity. It’s a great cause.”
For more information, visit
http://backstretcheducation.blogspot.com/.
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