Rotary, Libertyville H.S. teens read to Butterfield students

Submitted by Robin Smith Kollman, Dist 70

Sunrise Rotary Club members and Libertyville High School students took some time recently to read aloud to Butterfield students.

“We are so proud of our strong connections with our community organizations,” Libertyville School District 70 Board of Education President Maryann Ovassapian said. “The Rotary Reads is a wonderful program that helps reinforce a love of reading for our students. It really is true when we say, ‘It takes a village.’”

Teachers agree.

“We appreciate the generosity of our local Rotary Club,” third-grade teacher Ann Bradley said. “The students greatly enjoy listening to books being read by the Rotarians. We love having guest readers in our classrooms.”

In addition, first-grade teacher Maureen Rogers said, “The students were very excited to see Mrs. Geri Berlowski come and read to us. She is a Butterfield mom and her dad is in the Rotary Club.

“In the fall, my former student, Colleen Rooney, read to the students as a service project for Libertyville High School. I did not recognize Colleen right away. She was an adorable fifth-grader the last time I saw her and all of a sudden she was a beautiful junior in high school. The students liked hearing how the Rotary helps all children by buying and reading books to them.”

As for the students, they say they really enjoy being read to by Sunrise Rotary Club members and high school students.

“I think it was interesting because high school students come in and you never know who’s coming,” said Jonathan Haug, a second-grader in Tanya Surdick’s room. “I liked it a lot.”

Fellow student Ryan McGrory agreed, saying, “the reason I like it is because high school students get to come and meet our class and practice their reading skills, and we can find out a little about them.”

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