Carolina Orduno, a senior at Chestatee High School in Hall County, has made a pledge to put a book in the hands of every new student at Lyman Hall Elementary School.
Orduno is a member of the Georgia Department of Education’s Student Advisory Council and the book drive is part of her service to that panel, but it's become something personal for her, as well. She made the connection with Lyman Hall through teacher Marla Fouts during Read Across America Week as she was reading to Fouts' class via Zoom.
Initially, Orduno was set to launch a service project with Lyman Hall students last year - a tutoring project - but was unable to do so due to the COVID pandemic.
"I decided now was the perfect time to try again and persevere," Orduno said.
Orduno first had a goal of collecting 100 books, but she surpassed that mark. Now, her new goal is 140 books, and current donations number 121. The donation window will close at the end of the week.
"We raised our goal because we also wanted to donate a good portion of the books to newcomer and ESOL students," Orduno said.
In 2019, Lyman Hall Elementary reported 90% of its students as ESOL, or ELL Language Learners, according to the Governor's Office of Student Achievement. ELL learners are unable to communicate fluently or learn effectively in English. That was a big consideration as Orduno created her wish list for the project.
"A lot of the books included are about families from Mexico and Hispanic countries. We also are going to be donating books strictly in Spanish because we want a lot of these books to go to the newcomer students at Lyman Hall. These are often students that come from a Spanish-speaking country,” Orduno said. “We wanted them to hold onto their culture.”
Also, there is not a public library located close to Lyman Hall Elementary School; that was another reason Orduno felt Lyman Hall would be a perfect partner for the initiative.
"The media specialist at Lyman Hall has communicated to us that sometimes the students at Lyman Hall can be in what they call a book desert,” said Dana Farr, Media Specialist for Chestatee High School. “Access is not easy for the students, especially with summer coming up. With COVID, a lot of the bookmobiles and stuff like that that have taken place in the past have shut down. It really does echo my heart and Carolina’s heart to give these students this opportunity.”
Anyone who wishes to donate can do so through Carolina Orduno's Amazon Wish List. The books will be shipped directly to Marla Fouts at Lyman Hall Elementary School.
