Do you remember Constance Hansey? I wrote about her five years ago.

Constance was an exceptional volunteer at Georgia Avenue Community School. She helped gather and distribute used computers to families in need, she volunteered in the school computer lab, and she and her family raised over $2,000 for the school through paper drives.

All that time Constance knew she had a literacy problem but like many others, she kept it well hidden. It was only when her daughter, Donna, began to have similar problems in school that she decided it was time to admit her own literacy challenge, and more important, to do something about it. She found her way to Literacy Nanaimo.

She and her tutor started with the fundamentals, phonetics and the basic spelling rules. What she learned, she reviewed with her daughter so they could face their shared challenge together.

Once she started studying, Constance's long-range goal was to redo Grades 11 and 12 and if at all possible, to become a teacher. It looked like a daunting task at the time but she was determined to succeed.

Five years later, the task doesn't seem nearly so daunting, in fact she has her goal clearly in sight.

Before leaving her Literacy Nanaimo tutor, after a little more than two years of hard work, Constance was awarded the Canada Post Adult Literacy Individual Award and flown to accept her award and a new computer.

The next step was up the hill to Malaspina's Adult Basic Education Program.

Math has never been a problem for either Constance or her daughter, Donna. In fact once Donna began to gain more self-confidence, thanks to her mother's support, she began helping her friends with math and they helped her with literacy.

So it is no surprise that Constance knocked off straight A's in both Grade 11 and Grade 12 math.

Given her work ethic - She arrives at Malaspina every morning between 6 and 6:30 -- it shouldn't be a surprise that Constance is getting A's in English as well. She got an "Excellent" in the first of two preliminary courses, 95% in the second, 90% in Grade 11 English, and she is currently completing her Grade 12 English and expects similar marks.

Always interested in computers, she got 95% in her Grade 11 computer course and is set to get between 95 and 100% in Grade 12.

Constance expects to complete her Adult Basic Education courses next fall and then she plans on registering for a special course offered through Malaspina's Continuing Education Department that will qualify her to teach all of the Microsoft programs.

The goal that looked so far away, and so daunting, five years ago is now clearly in sight.

It's important to note that Constance hasn't let her focus on education rob her of other aspects of her life, especially her commitment to volunteering in the community. For the past two years, she has been the Chair of the Harewood Family of Community Schools, and last year her fellow ABE students at Malaspina voted for her to be their representative on the Malaspina Student Union. Not bad for a woman who struggled with reading just five years ago.

So what advice does Constance have for others who may be battling a literacy challenge today?

"First admit to yourself that you have a problem," she says, "and then commit to doing something about it today, not tomorrow." Her other suggestion is to become a volunteer.

"Volunteering is where I first learned that, literacy problem or not, I could still make a difference," she told me. "You don't have to be teacher smart," she continued, "all you have to be is heart smart."

Constance Hansey is definitely heart smart and in a year or so, she'll be teacher smart too.