On April 24th 2018, Lake Erie College students presented the district with an exceedingly generous donation of more than 5,000 books for the Summer Book Box. The students from the Education 308 Family and Community Studies course at Lake Erie College presented the process and results of this Service Learning Project to PCLS Curriculum Director Wendy Camper. During the presentation, students shared their strategies for achieving this record setting donation. These strategies included scholastic book fair, utilization of social media platforms, Buy-Sell-Trade, and the community beyond Painesville City. The Book Box is a summer mobile program sponsored by the Curriculum Department that stops at four locations in Painesville City allowing students to take books home to improve access to reading. Unlike a library, these books are for students to keep and are encouraged to take as many as they'd like. The hope and goal is to inspire both children and adults to embrace regular reading which in turn promotes childhood literacy. Research conducted by the U.S. Department of Education and the National Education Association has shown that reading for pleasure increases vocabulary and long term academic success.  

 

"We want to ensure that books are easily accessible to all community members in a friendly and relaxed atmosphere. We are encouraging reading for fun so students learn that reading just doesn't happen at school. We are so appreciative of all the hard work that Lake Erie College has done for us this year and in the past. We cannot express our gratitude enough." - Wendy Camper