And Ronaldo? He may have stumbled a bit on the long "a" in "native," but Snohomish, the Indian tribe?
He pronounced that perfectly.
Bambrick grinned.
"The program is very rigorous, based on literacy being the window that opens up all these other areas for learning, but it's also this exchange," said Brenda Palm, executive director of the Working in the Schools group.
"You hear the mentor say, 'You can do this. I know you can read more pages. How did your test go last week? How can I help you do better?'"
This is the first year Lozano is participating in the program, and Campos said it is showing results. In a midyear literacy test given Wednesday, 92 percent of the children in the program met or exceeded their goals, compared with 85 percent of all Lozano students.
That's especially impressive, Campos said, because the students chosen for the program were struggling at the beginning of the school year.
Now, the students are thriving under the attention they are getting, Campos said.
"They're treated like royalty. … They get escorted, they go upstairs, there are adults waiting for them — that's huge.
"It's this feeling of being special, being important," she said. "On Thursdays, they're all waiting for 2:30 to come along. They just fly down the stairs, (saying), 'Are we going to go, are we going?'"
Nine-year-old friends Kayla Mendez and Lourdes Garduno explained the appeal.
"It's like a teaching-land," Kayla said. "They try to teach us so we can be smart like them."
"They teach us new words that we didn't even know how to pronounce," Lourdes said.
One of the books they've been reading is "Diary of a Wimpy Kid," so some of the words have been as amusing as they are educational, like "buttocks."
The Exelon mentors may not spend the sessions laughing as hard as Kayla and Lourdes, but they are just as enthusiastic.
"It's a highlight of the week," said corporate relations specialist Michelle McConnell.
"I love it," Bambrick said. "I want this kid to read to me every day."
The children will read to their mentors every week through the end of the school year.
Ronaldo will probably still be calling Bambrick "Bambrick."
And Bambrick will be looking for Ronaldo to get that A-plus in math.
