LIVONIA, Mich. – There was a certain air of excitement in the halls of the Detroit Academy of Arts and Sciences as a team from Teach for America Detroit showed up with large boxes filled with children’s books on Thursday.
Go 4 It: Magic of Reading Book Drive brings community together to support Metro Detroit students
Those books, new and like-new, were donated by community members during the Go 4 It: Magic of Reading Children’s Book drive in March. The book donations were handed over to members of the school’s Student Council and their teacher.
“They get something new to read,” said Markus Campbell, an eighth grader and Student Council Secretary. “You know, more stories to read. I think they are just going to be real happy.”
Student Council members said they believe the books will go a long way. The campus is filled with children in kindergarten through eighth grade.
“I like to read action, adventure, and fiction,” said seventh grader Kayla Davis.
Generous community members from across Metro Detroit made sure to donate a variety of books. Their efforts during the book drive totaled 9,500 new and like-new children’s books during the book drive event.
“They will definitely be put to good use,” said Kentisha Dinham, a second-grade teacher and Teach for America Fellow.
Reading and literacy are priorities in schools across Metro Detroit. However, teachers said access to resources can be challenging.
“Especially in communities that we serve, like this,” Dinham explained. “Students might not have the same educational opportunities outside the environment that we create for them at school. So, we want to make sure that we’re pushing literacy, pushing reading, and pushing those foundational skills that they need to be successful in the real world.”
That is why Teach for America Detroit and Chapter One, an organization that provides reading tutors, hope the books will help in a community-based mission to build better readers while inspiring a greater love of books.
“I want to say thank you all for donating these books,” said Taryn Younger, Student Council President. “I really like the way that you all donated all of these books to us, because this can really help us with our education.”
Staff with Teach for America Detroit said they will continue distributing books to campuses across the community in the coming days and weeks.
We want to honor those making a difference. Click here to nominate someone who’s Going 4 It in your community. We’ll be featuring your nominees every month on Local 4 and ClickOnDetroit.