Rx for Reading at César Chávez Early Elementary!

Lining Up!

César Chávez students lining up at their new Rx for Reading Library.

Tome, Lea, Comparta!

Rx for Reading is excited to announce our new collaboration with the César Chávez Academy in Southwest Detroit. The early elementary school is now home to an Rx for Reading community library, which was given to the school along with a collection of 400 children’s books to help keep it filled. All students at the school are invited to “Take, Read, Share!” / “Tome, Lea, Comporta!”

Cesar Chavez Free Community Library

The Lorax Library was sponsored by a generous donor in honor of Sara Zawacki Gifford, former Rx for Reading Student Coordinator, and her husband Joe Gifford.  The library was painted by Paige Fairchild, a student in the University of Detroit Mercy College of Business Administration.

“I love to see the children choosing books and donating them to the Lorax library.”  
Lauri Cobb, Intervention Teacher, César Chávez Early Elementary (and our partner on the ground!)

 

Boys Read

César Chávez students help organize the library. César Chávez Academy is a public charter school in Southwest Detroit. 74% of its students are English language learners.

“I’ve never seen anything like it!”
Arely Valencia, parent and one-on-one aide at César Chávez
Happy Reader

As one student put it, “I like the Lorax Library because you can keep reading.”

Rx for Reading also sponsored the school’s celebration of El día de los niños / El día de los libros (Children’s Day/Book Day), providing a brand new book for every one of the school’s 455 kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd graders. Two Detroit Mercy alums, Marco Ineguez-Vera (BSN-Nursing) and Ana Barajas (Honors Biology), read to students at the event.

Ana Barajas at Cesar Chavez

Detroit Mercy alumna Ana Barajas reading to students at the school’s Día celebration.

Thank you, César Chávez, for giving the Lorax Library the perfect home!

Gesu School Celebrates Reading!

University of Detroit Mercy undergraduates Ranen Yousif, Nicholas Azzo, Kathia Diaz, and Marisol Angulo celebrated reading with the first graders and preschoolers at Gesu Elementary School.  All of the students picked a new book and homemade bookmark to take home, and the undergraduates and elementary students talked about their career goals and shared love of reading.  One of Ms. Piotrowski’s first graders is planning on running for president in 2036; she has Dr. Harrison’s vote!

Other UDM students who volunteered at Gesu over the semester include Taj Kooner, Thomas Quan, Maegan McFarland, Megan Sand, Candace Barron, Courtney Baird, Nolan Patel, Teresa Miranda-Chavez, Lauren Berlin, Samantha Carnaghi, and Jacquelyne Zolynsky.