Helping my Community Through Reading by Sydney

Helping my Community Through Reading by Sydney - December 2016 Scholarship Essay

A problem that I observed in my small hometown of Stansbury Park, Utah, is that the residents do not have access to a public library. This is an issue that hits very close to home, since libraries are among my most favorite locations in the world. As a child my favorite thing was to peruse the shelves, and to reach more and more of them as I grew. My taste in literature has evolved along with my height, but my love for reading has always been constant. When I moved to Stansbury Park in the third grade, I no longer had access to a library and the books I loved. This is an issue I really care about and wanted to do my part to solve here in my hometown.
The fact that my town doesn't have a library is both an inconvenience to me and detrimental to my community. Those that live in our neighbor town of Tooele have their own public library, but the same cannot be said of Stansbury Park. To be able to use their library, Stansbury Park residents have to pay a fee.
To do my part to solve this issue, I had to do much thinking and consideration. Whatever I did to help my community out would be a considerable improvement to what we have now. With help from willing friends and approval from Stansbury Park Elementary School, I founded the school's first Summer Reading Program.
My program is designed primarily to give elementary aged children the opportunity to have access to a library during the summer months. Each year a different theme was chosen for the program. The first year was superhero themed, and the kids and I discussed attributes of a hero and what constitutes being a hero. This most recent summer, our theme was "Finding Reading", in honor of the release of Disney's "Finding Dory". We talked about their favorite sea creatures and their experiences with fish and sharks and whales. Their faces would just light up as they talked about it, and the way they smiled at the Dory and Nemo decorations were priceless. They are what made it worth it.
After we talked together, it was time for story time. My mother is an elementary school teacher, and is widely renowned for her 'reading voice'. We had previously picked out a picture book that would fit the theme that week, and then my mom read it to them. Also prepared for them, a craft was ready to go. One week we made mini superheroes out of paper bags and another we made superhero themed bookmarks.
One of the proudest moments of my life was when a parent told me how much she appreciated what I had done and how much her and her kids enjoyed it. The experience was truly one of the greatest of my life. I was amazed at how much I learned from the kids. They were bright and bubbly and genuinely excited to be there each week. All of them, from the youngest to the oldest, desired to read and I hope that I helped to foster that and encourage it. I was overjoyed and felt warmed inside and out each week and especially when they thanked me. I am so glad that I had this opportunity, and only regret that I have to pass it on to someone else to keep it alive when I go to college.