Two Schools from Hay River were selected among 30 other schools in Canada for the Love of Reading Literacy Fund Grant! The schools were chosen among thousands of applicants across the country.
Harry Camsell and Princess Alexandra School in Hay River were both selected to receive the prize, for a total of $40,000 in donations that will translate into a lot of happy reading for a lot of youth.
Rose Lipton, who is the executive director of the Indigo Love of Reading Foundation, told True North FM that the foundation’s mission is to support as many young readers as possible.
“We want to make sure that every kid in Canada has equal access to books and the opportunity to fall in love with reading,” emphasized Lipton.
Lipton said the foundation rarely offers the Love of Reading Fund Grant to two schools from the same region, let alone the same town.
“We receive hundreds of applications and it’s a very competitive process, so it’s pretty amazing that two schools from the same community were able to move through this process,” said Lipton.
The schools demonstrated a “community vision” and shared goals around literacy that the judges want to see the schools “double down” on.
“It was really that story about community vision, community need. I think that really resonated with all of the judges, we moved through several rounds of judging, including rounds of educators, who sort of review the literacy plans,” explained Lipton.
The students at educators at Harry Camsell and Princess Alexandra School have been a long way together and share a path towards something they are creating together, despite or perhaps fuelled by the challenges.
“And in that story of all that they’ve gone through, but also all that they had a vision for. The district also has really ambitious goals around literacy. They talk about how 38 per cent of the students in the area are identified as vulnerable. They’re looking to grow their literacy results. So there was a lot of really robust thinking that went into the plans and what they put forward and also just a really amazing, powerful story,” said Lipton.
The foundation wanted to support the spirit and resilience of the Hay River community, especially in light of their struggles over the last few years.
“From reading their applications, it’s clear, Hay River has been through a lot, they told us about the evacuations due to flooding, due to fires and just it being a really tough last few years. And so, I think the whole idea behind this was to bring some joy and excitement to the community and so there’s a lot of enthusiasm for that and just good feelings towards all this is going to bring to the schools,” said Lipton.
Stephanie Haas, who is a teacher at Princess Alexandra School, shared the school’s excitement upon hearing the news of receiving the prize.
“We are very excited to be the recipients of the Love of Reading Literacy Fund Grant! Our library has grown sparse over the years and contains primarily books well over 30 years old. I know that with the addition of new relevant resources, the library will become a place where children want to be and explore their love of reading,” said Haas.
Haas explained that the addition of new resources means the library will become a place where children want to be and explore their love of reading.
“This year’s grant recipients represent a diverse cross-section of communities and backgrounds. We’re proud to partner with an incredible group of schools and educational organizations to help children and educators achieve their literacy goals and get more kids excited about reading,” said Lipton in an announcement today.
Lipton pointed out that according to a report by the Councils for Ministers of Education, youth literacy is closely correlated to secondary completion and post-secondary enrolment.
“The grants will be used to dramatically increase library budgets, ensuring new books and resources are available to thousands of students, both city and province-wide,” explained Lipton.
On June 5, the Indigo Love of Reading Foundation is celebrating Literacy Fund Grant Day after donating over 1.1 million dollars this year alone to 30 schools, That’s over 10,000 young readers across the country, looking forward to many books and many stories to come.
