Uniondale students celebrate summer reading success

Uniondale students spent a successful summer full of reading thanks to the My Brother’s Keeper initiative, and celebrated their achievements with a Friday night full of festivities.

“The My Brother’s Keeper Summer Reading Adventure celebration was a huge success attended by over 60 students and their families,” Monique Darrisaw-Akil, Uniondale district superintendent, said.

Families gathered on Uniondale High School’s new turf field on Sept. 13, with kids wearing shirts and jerseys to show off their favorite sports teams. They placed games, had their faces painted, participated in sack races, danced all night, and “shopped” for free books donated by the Book Fairies. Clifford the Big Red Dog was even there for photo opportunities.

This was the first year this summer reading program was implemented by My Brother’s Keeper. One of the organization’s main goals is to promote literacy, and that was the motivation behind this initiative.

“The goal was to encourage students to read with their families over the summer and get excited about all the adventures hidden between the pages of a book,” Darrisaw-Akil said.

In order to receive a special video invitation from Bilal Polson and Bryan Bruno, My Brother’s Keeper reading co-chairs, participants needed to read and log at least 15 books throughout August on Padlet, a digital bulletin board for each elementary school that administrators can access to keep track of reading levels.

On July 31, students were invited to spend a night at the Long Island Children’s Museum as a celebration of the midpoint of the summer reading program with the same criteria for an invite.

Darrisaw-Akil said she is pleased with the success of this new program.

“We can’t wait to make it even bigger next year!” she said.