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Education Roundup: Grant to help library selection grow

Axie Navasanavas@tahoedailytribune.com
Axie Navas / Tahoe Daily Tribune STHS Teacher Librarian Doug Dilts applied for a grant from the South Tahoe Rotary Club to fund the school's subscription to the Junior Library Guild.
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Reading is a religion for South Tahoe High School junior Kora Link. So it was only natural that she thank the South Tahoe Rotary Club for helping fund the school’s library in person. The rotary club awarded the library with a $1,600 grant to pay for the subscription to the Junior Library Guild, a program that stocks the shelves with new books every month. Link joined STHS Teacher Librarian Doug Dilts at a rotary meeting Jan. 9 to show her appreciation to the organization and explain her love of books. “A lot of people can’t buy books. I love books but I can’t buy them. So it’s important that we have the books here. You learn a lot from reading — themes, morals. Reading, to me, is like another form of religion,” Link said. Since state funding for the library dried up four years ago —a $15,000 budget from 2008-09 had shrunk to zero by the next school year — Dilts relied on fees to add new books to the shelves. Dilts also received money from the school’s general fund to pay for supplies, but the principal didn’t often have much cash to spare. So the grant from the rotary club, which will enable the library to add 96 books per year to its 14,775-title collection, comes at a welcome time. “Our students really like to see new books coming to the library. They get really excited and motivated,” Dilts said. “There’s been a lot of research on reading achievement and access to books. There’s a correlation. If students have access to a library and books they want to read, reading achievement goes up. And a lot of students who are socio-economically disadvantaged don’t have access to books at home or to the public library,” he said. With less money to purchase books and rights to online data bases, students’ ability to research was limited, Dilts said. He would have to turn students away because the school library didn’t carry the book they were looking for. From everything he’s seen, Dilts is convinced reading — and print —isn’t dead. “Young adult literature is huge, and it all pretty much started with the Harry Potter books. I see kids get really excited when they see new books and they still love print books,” Dilts said. Link said news about the grant is already spreading and whenever there’s a new book at the library, students swarm to be the first one to check it out. “It’s really appreciated. I know a lot of people who are like, ‘We need this book here.’ It’s definitely a good outlet for people to go,” Link said.

Lakeside hosts WHS poker tournament fundraiser Lakeside Inn & Casino will host the Warrior Safe and Sober Gradnight poker tournament Thursday at 6 p.m with a $100 buy in. All proceeds benefit Whittell High School. RSVP to Patti at pattistg@gmail.com or Boyd at gunslingerboyd@yahoo.com. Boys & Girls Club hosts Teen Spaghetti FeedThe Boys & Girls Club will host a Teen Spaghetti Feed Thursday at the main site located at 1100 Lyons Ave., South Lake Tahoe. The event starts at 5 p.m. and costs $5 per person. All proceeds benefit the club’s teen programs. Schools break for Martin Luther King Jr. DayDouglas County School District lake schools and Lake Tahoe Unified School District schools will have Monday, Jan. 21 off in celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. LTCC heats up for annual chili contestThe Lake Tahoe Community College’s Chili Cook-Off —a cooking battle between student groups — will take place Tuesday, Jan. 22 at 12 p.m. in the LTCC Commons. LTCC is located at One College Dr., South Lake Tahoe. Magnet school taking names for 2013-14 kindergarten classThe Lake Tahoe Environmental Science Magnet School is now accepting names for the Fall 2013 kindergarten class through March 27. If you have a child that will be turning 5 years old on or before Dec. 2, visit the school office to enter your child into the lottery. The lottery will be pulled April 1. It is not run on a first-come, first-served basis. The school is located at 1095 E San Bernardino Ave., South Lake Tahoe.


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