Fredonia students will have an opportunity to help stock the classroom library of 2016 graduate Rachel Beneway, who teaches seventh grade English at a middle school in the Bronx, thanks to a book drive that the Fredonia chapter of Sigma Tau Delta, the English honor society, will conduct during December.
The students in P.S.M.S. 279 Captain Manuel Rivera Jr. are a hard-working and talented group, Ms. Beneway reports. “They spend an incredible amount of time reading and writing on a daily basis. The best part is they love it! They fly through books like no other group of middle schoolers I have ever seen,” she said.
So voracious are their reading appetites that Beneway is actually running out of books for them to read. In fact, some students were getting close to having read all of the books, within their respective reading level, in October. Reading levels range between elementary and high school.
“I want them to continue reading at this rate, but the reality is that these students don't have the kind of access to good books that kids their age should have,” explained Beneway, who majored in English Adolescence Education and was co-president of Fredonia’s Sigma Tau Delta chapter last year.
On Thursday, Dec. 1, Sigma Tau Delta will set up a book drop in University Commons, just outside of Starbucks, where students and community members can leave book donations. Books from all reading levels will be accepted and appreciated.
“It melts my heart to think that there are people out there who are willing to give books to students that they don't and will never know,” Beneway added.
