To celebrate Read Across America Week, New Hope-Solebury’s middle and high school students ventured to the Upper and Lower Elementary Schools to serve as special guest readers on Wednesday, March 2. Older students had the chance to reminisce and to mentor their younger peers. As seventh grader Matthew Picone commented, "I really liked reading to the younger kids because it was so fun! It was also fun to see the teachers that I had at the lower elementary school!"

The elementary students enjoyed sharing their own stories and ideas and asking many questions of their older peers. From the high school, students from the Key Club volunteered their time as part of their ongoing community service efforts. At the Middle School, the opportunity was open to all students and over 50 of them signed up to participate. New Hope-Solebury’s Middle School reading specialist Dr. Emilia Lengyel noted, "Literacy is such a valuable gift and the fact that so many of our middle school students wanted to share their love of reading with the lower elementary students in itself is quite extraordinary!"

This day of reading served as one of the highlights in a fun-filled week of literary exploration. The District’s team of reading specialists and librarians created an extensive list of books set in all 50 US states. Students in each grade level read the book collections associated with five different states throughout the week, and with each journey, they had the chance to pin the map to reflect their visit.  The students also wore red, white, blue to display their patriotism and wore sports jerseys for “Be a Good Sport and Read Day!”