Linda Hovee

-- Story by Lolita Harper, Photo by Don Leach

To Linda Hovee, education falls right in line with basic

necessities of life: food, air, water, love.

“Without it, you are dead,” Hovee said.

That is why the Newport Beach resident dedicates numerous

volunteer hours tutoring at Estancia High School. Hovee and a group

of five other devoted volunteers have nurtured the tutoring program,

sponsored by Girls Inc. in Costa Mesa, from its inception and

designed it to make sure Costa Mesa teenage girls have access to a

necessary lifeline: education.

Hovee, 59, said the program’s main focus is on education, but she

and her tutoring colleagues ultimately become much more.

“As much as we are tutors, I think we are also mentors,” she said.

They develop relationships with the girls, take them on field

trips, expose them to the theater and provide limited financial

support, such as fronting money for a yearbook that would otherwise

be too expensive.

“We try to provide enough so they can have as full and normal a

life as possible,” Hovee said. “Some of these girls come from very

difficult living situations.”

In the past six years, she said she has seen some girls become

pregnant and drop out of school and others become so involved in

trying to support their families that their school work suffers. It

breaks her heart because an education is the only thing that can help

the girls truly tackle those obstacles, yet it is often one of the

first things to be sacrificed.

But as the program has evolved, Hovee has developed personal

relationships with girls to prevent that from happening. In the past

few years, Hovee has had the distinct pleasure of walking some girls

through all four years of high school.

“Times obviously change, and some have boyfriends and most have

jobs, but we’ve connected with them enough that we stay in touch with

them and they can call us if they need to.”

The bond with the students is just one aspect of her rewarding

volunteering, Hovee said. She has also become very close with the

other tutors, creating an unbending affiliation of women who are

dedicated to help mold independent women. The girls may have

collegiate or vocational dreams, but as long as they have a measure

of success, they will succeed -- and education is the first step.

“Strong, smart, bold women. That is our mission,” Hovee said.