Junior Wed Mueen is dedicated to improving the reading culture at OH. In over a year, she has gathered a group of fellow juniors to create a new book club called the Oswego Reading Corner.
“It was a fairly simple process. We just had to reach out to Mr. [Nick] Dunn and Mr. [Brian] Cooney and they shared the policy and let us apply our idea,” Mueen said.
Many students claim to dislike reading assigned books for curricular English classes, which has caused a rift in their independent reading.
“I believe that many teachers don’t make it their mission to make it interesting and engaging for their students,” said junior board member Isabella Ikonomi. “We as the club are trying to change that and create positive relationships with reading by giving people enough time to read and also including fun activities associated with the book.”
The Oswego Reading Corner has six board members along with their club advisor, OH Multilingual teacher Christina Passarelli. They have promoted the club through social media, flyers, and fairs, with an attempt to branch out to every student at OH.
“I would like students to get involved so they have an opportunity to share a love for reading books that they enjoy,” said Passarelli. “Reading is my favorite thing to do and sometimes I can’t wait to talk to someone else about a book that I couldn’t put down. The discussions can be as great as the stories.”
However, starting up a club from scratch is no simple feat. The process of growth is very challenging, as OH offers so many opportunities that can easily overlap and overwhelm students on top of work.
“One of the biggest challenges with a new club is getting members… As board members, our primary goal is to help keep the club moving whether that be making posters, reaching out to people, in person or online, communicating with staff, and running the meeting,” said junior board member Abdullah Abouhaiba.
The first book the club voted to read was Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. At their most recent Thursday meeting, they held activities and discussions related to events in the book.
“My goal is for students to find books that they want to read and give them the opportunity to share with others. I want students to find reading fun, entertaining, and perhaps even social when shared with others,” Passarelli said.
Now that the club’s first book event has concluded, the board is looking into what’s next. The club prioritizes student choice, as they strive to have a range of topics, genres, and popularity of books.
“For December, we plan to let everyone choose their own nostalgia book for this month and we plan to make gingerbread houses at the meeting!” Mueen said.
The Oswego Reading Corner meetings are open for anyone to join at any time, to find more information on their meetings check their Instagram @oreadingcorner or their Google Classroom with code: ZTEODDH.
“Books are the tools we have to travel to world[s] different than ours without moving our feet. They open the doors to a whole other dimension and can completely encapsulate the reader…Without books, we would be nowhere in life and it [is] important not to lose that love we should have for it,” said Abouhaiba.
Hi I'm Chayse! I'm a Senior at OHS and this is my first year on the 42Fifty team. When I'm not at school, I participate in activities such as BIONIC, Commotion, SOTC, and many various Honor Societies! You can contact me by emailing 42Fifty@sd308.org and putting my name in the subject line. We welcome comments on our articles and feedback on our publication!
Obsessed with this, amazing!