Teentober has arrived again, Antioch Community High School is competing against the other schools in the Northern Lake County Conference to take home the bragging rights of winning Pageapolooza.
According to the American Library Association (ALA), TeenTober is a nationwide event held in October by many libraries to celebrate teens and teen services. It is aimed at helping teens learn new skills and fuel their passions, both in and outside the library. Teentober is replacing the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), which hosted Teen Read and Teach Week. This event allows libraries to create all types of activities that work into their school’s schedule.
From Oct. 6 to Nov. 2, ACHS is competing in Pageapolooza. Hannah Mueller, the ILC director at Lakes Community High School, organizes the event. So far, 20 ACHS students are competing in Pageapolooza, the largest number enrolled across all the schools in the NLCC competition. Yet, LCHS is in the lead with the most minutes read, but it is still looking good for ACHS. The winners of Pageapolooza will get bragging rights until Teentober returns next year.
“We want to get the word out and promote a culture of reading,” ILC Director Kelly Taylor said.
Pageapolooza is a great way to promote reading, celebrate teens, and showcase the library. Pageapolooza is a reading contest that the school is competing in, but students need to read individually to help the school win. Students can join at any time and start tracking minutes; all genres of books count, unless participants do not submit their minutes before the deadline, which is due on Sunday at 11:59 p.m. each week. Participants also win milestone prizes that encourage them to keep reading. a weekly raffle, and the top three winners win a gift card to Little Bean Coffee Company or Little Bean Books. Freshman Kennedy Fisher is participating in Pageapoolza this year and won the first weekly raffle.
“The motive to win prizes could help get more students involved with the library and reading in general,” Fisher said. “My main goal throughout this challenge is to try to read every day. To me, it didn’t matter if I could only read for a couple minutes. As long as I have read each day, I counted it.”
Fisher won a $15 Starbucks gift card from the first raffle. She was shocked at first, but grateful her name was pulled, and has found that the most rewarding part of Pageapoolza is the motivation to read more.
To help promote this nationwide event, Taylor has been working with freshmen, the Library Advisory Board, sending emails, and posting through the announcements. Taylor believes this competition represents all things that matter to our community.
“We truly believe that reading for enjoyment and/or personal development leads to being a better citizen,” Taylor said.
