Summer reading expands to include high school readers

If past years are any indication, more than 100 students will complete the public library’s summer reading program this year.

For the first time this year officials at the Irene Ingle Memorial library have opened the reading program to include high school students, according to Librarian Kay Jabusch.

“There seems to be a lot of interest there,” she said. “These kids have grown up with the program. We’re actually expecting a lot more participation this year.”

Registration for the program started last week, and continues until June 30, Jabusch said.

The program draws funding from the Stikine Sportsmen’s Association, Lions Club, and local business like Angerman’s, First Bank, Alaska Airlines, Ottesen’s, and Friends of the Irene Ingle Library to name only a few, Jabusch said.

“There’s quite a few organizations, businesses, and quite a few individuals,” she said. “A lot of individuals don’t necessarily have their kids in the program but either recognize the importance of the program, or their kids might be in college and they still donate because they know what a difference it made to their children.”

The summer program, an extension of the school system’s Accelerated Reader program, follows a similar format. This will mark the program’s 18th consecutive year in operation.

Like the school program, students read and then take tests on books which scores them, Jabusch said.

“The transition over the summer is very easy for the students because they have the same user id and password, and they’re basically the same computers they use at the school because we borrow them from the school,” she said.

Prior to using the school program, the library had tried other summer-based reading programs of their own design aimed at keeping students reading over the summer, Jabusch said.

“This was the one we found really fit for the children and the school district,” she said. “Over the years, support has grown.”

The program will officially kick off June 2. Books are assigned points based on the difficulty, and computer program monitors their progress. The points are traded for tickets, which students can then place in any of the 137 jars for drawings for prizes donated by local businesses and purchased using money contributions.

“They’re not winning something that isn’t age-appropriate or something they don’t want,” she said.

Prizes range from Lego sets to an Amazon Kindle to fishing poles. Students are well-versed with the program, Jabusch said. All students who accumulate at least 10 points are invited to an end-of-summer pool and pizza party Aug. 9.

“They’re all familiar with it,” she said. “They’ve done it, and that’s one reason we started offering it again to the high school students. We had three or four boys come up to us and say they wished they were still in the reading program.”