Prairie River Junior High in High Prairie has received a portion of $1 million the Indigo Love of Reading Foundation has handed out to schools across Canada this year as a part of their Literacy Fund Grant.
Prairie River Junior High’s Librarian, Jennifer Villebrun says in northern Alberta, literacy rates are lower than the rest of the province, “Students tend to test 12% lower than other areas in Alberta, that’s why literacy is such an important factor for us and this grant has had such huge meaning; it acknowledges the work needing to be done in helping our students succeed.” Villebrun says they’ve already been able to bring in a number of new books already, will be getting another shipment in the summer and have refurnished some of the library space.
A significant majority of students in the school identify as Indigenous and around 20% of them speaking Cree or another Indigenous language at home regularly. The school is in the works of using the grant to increase the diversity of books in their library to include more Indigenous fiction and non-fiction literature.
Villenbrun says there’s a limited range of Indigenous books for the schools reading level, but there’s a lot of growth in the category. “Graphic novels is one of the areas we’ve been able to expand in for our Indigenous collection, we probably have 40 or 50 in that area.” There was a student that picked a graphic novel from inside the library, and it was about their grandfather, which Villenbrun says was an amazing experience for a student to be able to connect with a book from within their own community.
The program is not only to benefit the students, but also the teachers and staff. Villebrun says with the new books coming in, more staff have been intrigued to pick up a novel. “We’ve had a little bit more readership from some of the staff as well.” Villebrun says the grant has helped reallocate some of the school’s budget into literacy support to bring in new programs to help teachers build literacy skills.
Prairie River Junior High’s Principal, Paula Taylor says the key to the entire grant process has been the Librarian, Jennifer Villebrun. “It’s really her thing, and shes just done an amazing job at supporting our school and literacy in our students.” Taylor praised Villebrun on her efforts over the past year.
The Indigo Love of Reading Foundation’s donation to the school will be provided over three years and is helping close the gaps in the school’s book collection with First Nations perspectives. The Literacy Fund Grant is also contributing to the schools “Words of Our Way” program, which is aiming at providing students with access to hundreds of books at their own reading level.
-Erika Rolling, Trending 55 Newsroom
