“They came up and hugged me tightly after I read to them,” said 16-year-old Melody Josefowicz from Holy Redeemer High School.
“They had the biggest smiles,” said 16-year-old Lily Romanowski from Wyoming Valley West.
The young women from Junior Leadership Northeast’s Class of 2024 were recalling a “Read Across America” Day they recently spent reading to children at Heights-Murray Elementary School in Wilkes-Barre.
Their Junior Leadership committee expects more happiness when the United Way of Wyoming Valley distributes around 20,000 books the young people have helped gather for local students from preschool through 12th grade.
At midday Friday, the youthful committee was at the United Way offices in downtown Wilkes-Barre with boxes and boxes of books, given by schools, businesses and other organizations, that will be categorized based on age group and subject.
Romanowski said she felt nostalgic whenever she saw a children’s book that she had read when she was young.
“The Magic Treehouse,” was a favorite, she pointed out.
“They’re doing a great job,” advisor Kathleen Savage said, explaining members of the Junior Leadership committee will attend a book fair in late May and help students choose books to take home for summer reading.
“Reading is extremely important,” said committee member Mia Altavilla, 17, from Wyoming Area High School.
Agreeing with that idea, Bill Jones, executive director of the United Way of Wyoming Valley, said Pennsylvania aims to have 81% of third graders reading at grade level by 2030.
It’s crucial to be skilled by third grade, Jones said, because once students are past the primary grades, they will need reading for every subject.
Before the pandemic, Jones said, only 58% of third graders in Luzerne County were reading at grade level. That decreased to 39% after the pandemic, and slowly increased to 46% post pandemic.
The Junior Leadership committee members said they hope giving children books they like, and sharing their own excitement for reading, will help.
Committee members include Melody Josefowitz from Holy Redeemer High School, Lily Romanowski from Wyoming Valley West, Mia Altavilla from Wyoming Area, Nick Delayo from Wyoming Seminary, Liv Seery from Greater Nanticoke Area and Landen Aritz from Lake-Lehman.
