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Training prepares volunteers for Read Aloud program

By JOSEPHINE MENDEZ

The Herald-Dispatch

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — For roughly 17 years, Betty Dennison’s leadership development studies class at Mountwest Community & Technical College has partnered with Read Aloud West Virginia to serve a local elementary school.

But before her students are allowed to enter a classroom, they must complete a training course.

On Thursday, Mary Kay Bond, executive director of Read Aloud’s statewide organization, traveled to Mountwest to train faculty, staff and student volunteers.

“It’s not like it’s brain surgery, but we want to give (the volunteers) some tools about book selection and about the fact that it is more than reading the words on the page. It’s about bringing the story to life,” Bond said.

Bond said Read Aloud West Virginia’s mission is to change the literacy culture of West Virginia by keeping reading material in the hands and on the minds of West Virginia’s children. She said motivation is the critical first step in developing any skill, and Read Aloud works to motivate children to want to read.

A big part of the organization’s goal is also to involve community members and businesses in cultivating a culture that places value on reading.

“We are heavily dependent on our volunteer chapters,” Bond said. “They keep us going.”

It is for this reason that Dennison has made volunteering with Read Aloud a permanent part of her curriculum for servant learning.

“The belief is people are not going to follow you unless you serve them first,” she said.

After completing the hour-and-a-half-long training, Dennison said her Mountwest students will be sent to Guyandotte Elementary School where they will read to first-grade students.

Over the years, Dennison said she has sent thousands of students to read to children at Guyandotte Elementary.

As part of the curriculum, her students also raise money in order to purchase books for the first-graders at the school.

Dennison estimated that her students have given more than 2,000 books to students at Guyandotte.

“This is so important not just for the elementary students but for my students as well,” she said. “Some of them are parents already, some will be parents down the road, and it’s important that they learn how important it is to read to children and serve the community.”

To volunteer with Read Aloud, contact Breana Roach Bowen, assistant director for youth services at the Cabell County Public Library, at 304-528-5700 or [email protected].

For more information about Read Aloud, visit www.readaloudwestvirginia.org.

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