Patton College Literacy Center to host book fair during Adult Education and Family Literacy Week

Photo courtesy of: Patton College of EducationNick Schopis, a Stevens Literacy Center Ambassador, and his little Patton Pal reading a book together during afterschool reading club.

The Patton College of Education’s Stevens Literacy Center is hosting a Scholastic Book Fair in conjunction with Adult Education and Family Literacy (AEFL) Week and Ohio University’s Parents Weekend.

The Fair will be held Sept. 27-30 in McCracken Hall, Room 218. It will be open to the public from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sept. 27-28 and from noon to 6 p.m. Sept. 29-30.

“The Scholastic Book Fair is an amazing opportunity for The Patton College of Education to provide local families with easy access to an incredible array of affordable children’s books,” said Dr. Julie Francis, director of the Stevens Literacy Center. “The Center is partnering with The Patton College’s Honor Fraternity, Kappa Delta Pi, to host the event.”

The event coincides with AEFL Week, which will be celebrated Sept. 23-29. AEFL Week raises awareness about the need for – and value of – adult education and family literacy. It seeks to leverage resources that support access to basic education programs for the roughly 36 million U.S. adults with low literacy skills. It also gives advocates an opportunity to elevate adult education and family literacy nationwide with policymakers, legislators, and the community, among other stakeholders.

“One way to build or advance child and adult literacy is through engagement with books,” said Francis. “Families that read and learn together with books experience benefits such as improved school achievement and test scores, increased motivation for learning, and greater involvement in educational and community activities.”

According to ProLiteracy and the National Coalition for Literacy, 16 percent of the world’s population is non-literate. In addition, children of parents with low literacy have a 72 percent chance of testing at the lowest reading levels themselves.

The Stevens Literacy Center – which seeks to improve lives by researching, developing, and promoting literacy across the lifespan – hopes to change that. The Scholastic Book Fair will allow local children and families to learn from Patton College teacher candidates – also known as Literacy Ambassadors. Their job is to improve literacy skills and get children excited about reading.

“The kids we are working with are at an age when they absorb anything and everything – so the more they read, the better,” said Nick Schopis, Literacy Ambassador and AYA Integrated Social Studies Education Major. “We accomplish this, mainly, by allowing kids to read things of interest. A goal of the Literacy Center is to show kids how to be lifelong learners – a skill we believe is crucial for all kids to develop.”

Schopis, a fifth-year senior from Grandview Heights, Ohio, has served as a Literacy Ambassador in the past. This summer, for example, he participated in “Reading in the Treehouse,” a six-week reading camp for K-3 students from Athens, Vinton, and Meigs Counties. He also participated in a one-week reading camp at Shade Community Center that provided services to students from Alexander and Logan-Hocking School Districts.

“Both camps were extremely rewarding and allowed me to positively impact the lives of many kids,” said Schopis. “In fact, I still work with and tutor one of the kids I met this past summer.”

Schopis has seen the student’s interest and excitement in reading increase “tenfold.” The student even reads regularly outside of school.

“Every time I work with him now, he always has something he is reading and he wants to talk about it and read more,” said Schopis. “The growth he has shown is truly awesome and exciting.”

Francis hopes the Scholastic Book Fair leads to similar results for other children – and their parents.

“We recognize that much of our work begins at home,” said Francis. “If families encourage children to read, sharing stories together and reading independently, then children will be more likely to read outside of class, which will continue to improve their thinking, language, reading, and writing skills.”

The Literacy Center, to its credit, has been extremely active in the community and helped countless families.

“Our daughter, Brielle Kennedy, has been with the Stevens Literacy Center since the beginning,” said Bill Kennedy. “We appreciate all the staff and tutors for providing reading, tutoring, and hands-on experiences in the summer program.”

While the book fair is intended to help local children and parents, Literacy Ambassadors benefit as well.

“All of the ambassadors, myself included, are hoping to have careers in which we work with kids – so by seeing this development firsthand, I feel all of us will be better-suited for our future jobs,” said Schopis. “Working with young people and seeing growth and development in them creates a feeling of gratitude like nothing else can.”

These opportunities also allow Literacy Ambassadors to develop a deeper connection with the community they serve.

“By working with kids from the Athens area, I feel I have learned a lot about the community itself,” said Schopis. “I have lived in Athens now for five years, and never before have I felt such a closeness to the community. This is something I owe to the Literacy Center by being an ambassador. At the end of the day, we know we are making a positive difference in the community.”

Book Fair attendees can park for free at McCracken Hall. All proceeds from the event will be donated to Kolter Elementary School in Houston, which was destroyed by Hurricane Harvey in August 2017.

Photo courtesy of: Patton College of EducationThe proceeds from last year’s Scholastic Book Fair were donated to Kolter Elementary School in Houston, TX, after Hurricane Harvey destroyed their school.

Photo courtesy of: Patton College of EducationThe Hosek Family learned about foods around the world in the PCOE Demonstration Kitchen during the Reading in the Treehouse summer camp.