This past Friday celebrated the third annual Season’s Readings event for the Townsend Harris Reading Initiative. The event, organized by English teacher and Classic Advisor Brian Sweeney and Librarian Arlene Laverde, welcomes the holiday season with a reading theme. Throughout the day, students enjoyed opportunities for independent reading, were given time to read about other cultures, and were invited to attended festive performances held by the Nightingale Theater Company.
During bands one and four, students either watched live performances of holiday stories presented by the Nightingale Theater Company or remained in class for a holiday read-aloud led by their teachers. The productions in band one included readings from A Christmas Carol and “The Elves and the Shoemaker.” This celebration continued in band four starting with readings from The Santa Interviews, a Hanukkah poem read-aloud of “Season of Skinny Candles,” and A Simple Act of Kindness.
“One [play in band one] that stood out particularly to me was A Christmas Carol because my English teacher, Mr. McDonaugh actually assigned us that in class, so it kind of resonated with me,” said Sophomore Vivian Lin. “I think it was very good to involve everyone, our community and our students into reading [for the holidays].”
Freshman Zainab Masoom said, “I learned a lot about how people celebrate Christmas and different folk tales and stories behind it. It was pretty new and interesting to me since I don’t know much about the holiday. I liked seeing the different stories played out.”
Sophomore Madilyn Mercado signed up to perform with The Nightingale Theater Company. This was her first performance.
“When I asked if it was too late to join, I was welcomed with open arms,” she said. “Everyone in Nightingale is extremely talented, and performing with them for the first time was a fun experience. They inspire me to be a better performer.”
Band two was dedicated to independent reading. Students could read any text of their choosing for the whole band.
“I [was] able to read whatever book I want and at my own pace, which makes it more about having fun with reading than stressing out, having to analyze every detail about the book,” said Freshman Seph Anthony Penaflor.
Band three was all about celebrating culture through literature. Festival of Nations leaders provided readings from the culture their FON group represents, which helped other students learn about the experiences and beliefs of other nations this holiday season.
Mr. Sweeney said that the purpose of the FON readings was to offer “interactions with lots of different cultures and traditions” through texts that were carefully and personally selected by the students in FON.
As to the goal of the Season’s Readings event, Mr. Sweeney said that this annual tradition aims to help students enjoy the holiday season, find time to read, and honor the efforts of those involved in the Reading Initiative’s competition (a yearlong contest for students who report how much independent reading they do).
“We think that the holidays are kind of a stressful time, so there should be at least a day in December that’s not like a normal school day,” he said. “[On Season’s Readings,] we’re going to give out AirPods [one of the top prizes for the Reading Initiative contest]. So, we want to both take a break but also celebrate people who’ve been reading consistently this year so that students will get a nice experience.”
To conclude this special day, the long-awaited AirPods were awarded to junior Yugesh Kumar for excelling in the Reading Initiative’s competition.
