Last week, Seminole High School participated in Seminole County’s Literacy Week. The primary goal of the program is to promote literacy within the county’s schools, this year focusing on engaging the general student body. The theme for this year was “Literacy Changes our World.”

The Seminole High School Literacy Council, led by Ms. Aliya Lyons, hoped to promote the week during the school day more often than they had before. Prior to this year, the council had found that more of the people who participated in the events of the week were adults and young children, rather than teenagers.

In an effort to spark interest among students, the council decided on creating specific events for each day that give incentives for students to read. These events included receiving a special surprise for being caught reading on Monday, a book exchange in the Media Center on Friday, and free books being given out during lunches throughout the week.

According to Lyons, the free books during lunch were quite a success, as they attracted many students during their lunch periods.

“It surprised me how many [students] came out to the stand. It really brought out students who loved reading, who loved books and literature,” comments Lyons.

Lyons went on to say that the books she had allocated for the week only lasted a day, and that evening she had to search for more books so she could continue giving out books throughout the week during lunch.

However, Literacy Week hasn’t ended yet; the Literacy Council has decided to extend it a week longer with one last fun activity. This one is quite similar to the event on Tuesday, except it lasts a longer period of time. The council has dubbed it the “Literacy Quote of the Day,” with a quote being given out every day. Students will have to listen to the quotes throughout the week and determine who said these quotes (usually famous authors). At the end of the week students will give Lyons the names of all five authors, and if they are correct, they will win a gift card.

“Literacy week has been great so far. Even if people aren’t paying as much attention as [the school] would probably hope, I know there are a lot of people actually participating,” says Sophomore Sarah Walck.

Literacy week has been quite the success for the Literacy Council, as they’ve piqued the interest of more of their target audience this year than ever before. The Council is quite happy with the results last week has yielded, and hopes for another successful week much like this one next year.