. >> reporter: janet heller has quite the childhood story. >> i got expelled from high school. i had a drinking problem. my parents split. my dad left the country. i wasn't sure how i was going to make it. >> reporter: until she wrote that story down. >> i took my expulsion story, and i wrote my college essay about that. and i got a scholarship to tulane university. >> reporter: she has been writing and helping young students channel their life stories. five years ago, she started the non-profit called chapter 510 and the department of make believe. >> because writing is hard. writing is intimidating. >> reporter: chapter 510 is a youth writing center based in oakland providing free in- school tutoring, creative writing workshops and even publishing opportunities for students in kindergarten through high school. its volunteers have helped more than 600 students so far in a city where more than 80% of low income children fall behind in reading proficiency by third grade. janet believes the key to reading is writing. and the key to writing is connections. >> and they're writing t

. >> reporter: janet heller has quite the childhood story. >> i got expelled from high school. i had a drinking problem. my parents split. my dad left the country. i wasn't sure how i was going to make it. >> reporter: until she wrote that story down. >> i took my expulsion story and i wrote my college essay about that. and i got a scholarship to tulane university. >> reporter: she has been writing and helping young students channel their life stories. five years ago, she started the non-profit called chapter 510 and the department of make believe. >> because writing is hard. writing is intimidating. >> reporter: chapter 510 is a youth writing center based in oakland providing free in- school tutoring creative writing workshops and even publishing opportunities for students in kindergarten through high school. its volunteers have helped more than 600 students so far in a city where more than 80% of low income children fall behind in reading proficiency by third grade. janet believes the key to reading is writing. and the key to writing is connections. >> and they're writing thi