Claire Katsev, social studies teacher, wanted to help faculty and staff members contribute more to literacy goals at MHS.
“I’m trying to make sure that teachers are supporting literacy as much as possible to help students,” Katsev said, “and what’s better way to do that than a competition?”
Katsev and the new literacy committee have organized a 100 Book Blitz competition for teams of faculty and staff members. The library will buy lunch for the first team to read a total of 100 books.
Brittany Sharitz, librarian, is the main organizer of the competition.
“We already have a book club, and the book club is really growing, but we were looking for ways to get people who don’t feel like they belong to a book club,” Sharitz said.
Teams of 15 to 20 faculty and staff have been organized alphabetically in order to alleviate concerns of the language department having an unfair advantage if the competition were to be organized by department. Sharitz said this system has been fun and has encouraged teachers from different departments to interact.
Each team has a fruit-related name such as the Bookish Blueberries and the Pensive Plums.
Sharitz said the most participation is from the literacy team, which includes teachers from every department, and MHS’s book club members, which is a diverse group as well.
“At the rate people are reading right now, we think the competition will be finished before May,” Sharitz said.
Sharitz said they plan to open the book blitz to students in future years to increase literacy of students more directly.
Freshman Principal Amy Sturges said this reading challenge and others like it for staff members allows the adults at MHS to get excited about reading.
“That excitement trickles into the classroom,” Sturges said. “If they start talking about the books they’re reading, kids will be like ‘Oh, I might be interested in that too,’ or ‘maybe I should read that.’ Getting staff involved does help the students in the long run.”
Sturges said she is participating in the Book Blitz and has already read two books over winter break. She is currently on her third book.
“I’m getting ready to go on a trip, and my goal is to read three books during that long weekend,” Sturges said. “It’s one of those things that allows me to have some me time.”
Principal Dr. Tracey Waeckerle has been supportive of teachers participating in these reading challenges, Sturges said. MHS also has a building-wide book club reading a book together called The Anxious Generation.
Sturges said she likes that the book blitz creates friendly competition.
“If there’s a competition involved, it’s like ‘well I need to do one more book.’ It pushes you a little bit further,” Sturges said.
