“I love books,” was said Alexa Bell, junior at GLSH. Alexa is not the only student at Latrobe who loves to read, a whole club of dedicated students are passionate about reading. Seniors Satannia Hayden, Brittney Sarnese, and Lisa Vingin; juniors Alexa Bell and Klaudia Long; and sophomores Alexis Bish, Amanda Frenchik, Morgan Kozlowski, Josh Parker, Taylor Short, and Carly Williams are all members of this competitive club.
Many are excited about the prospective year. Newcomer sophomore, Amanda Frenchik says, “I am excited because I like reading but I am nervous about the competition!” The competition is held annually at Seton Hill University. This school year Latrobe’s eleven students will participate to compete against approximately thirty other schools in the county.
A member of the team must read a minimum of five of the 30 books, writing two questions and a summary from each chapter. The questions are all factual, since that is how they are presented at the competition. A sample question from senior Lisa Vingin from Adoration of Jenna Fox would be, “What does Jenna’s father call her?” with the answer of “Angel.” The summaries are just two lines that touch on the major occurrences of the chapter. All of this extra work is done to better prepare themselves for the competition.
The books vary in category, from fiction to non-fiction and new to old. One of the many books includes Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen. This fiction novel is a good read to brighten a dreary day about a young girl’s trip to a small beach town where she has a romance with a member of the town and she tries to connect with her dad and his new family. The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks is also on the book list. It is an intense novel set in North Carolina that deals with all forms of love; first love, the love between parents and children, and losing love. It can move you to tears.
The reading team list is much more varied than just teenage dramas. Sophomore Taylor Short chose to read Shift, a mystery book. “I like it a lot because his friend disappears on a bike ride so it’s very mysterious,” said Taylor.
The only requirement to be on the reading team is to have a love of books. As Alexa said, “I joined reading team for fun and to read.” Alexa Bell loves to read, as does the other members of the reading team.
After all of the reading is done, the team is pretty much about having fun. The club encourages reading and helps students to become more skilled readers. As said by Miss Riebel, “Anytime you practice reading, it helps you with your language skills, the speed you read, and the comprehension.” This is exactly what reading team is all about, not to mention winning the competition in March.
