Community Spotlight: Kentwood, Caledonia join forces for reading project

By Matt Marn

Published January 17, 2011 by Advance Newspapers

Kentwood and Caledonia students appeared at the Kentwood Board of Education meeting on January 10 to launch “Two Communities, One Book,” and announced that the book leading the program would be The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot.

Donna Smith is one of the coordinators of the event. As a Caledonia parent, she has been involved in many past literacy projects, and has helped bring the school districts together to celebrate literacy and their new libraries while at the same time bringing the two communities closer together.

“I really want to emphasize, not just for high school, but this is important for all ages,” Smith said. “We are promoting literacy, celebrating two new libraries, and building relationships between the communities.”

The schools have filmed four public service announcements about the program and the benefits of picking up a good book. The announcements will be playing on local cable stations, including Caledonia Cable and The Falcon News, the two schools’ broadcasting networks. The students played one of the clips for the board.

On March 21 at the Kentwood Library, Kentwood students, in conjunction with Davenport University, will host Betty Zylstra, the director of the Grand Rapids Salvation Army. Zylstra, along with a representative from a local clinic, will discuss and help localize health issues raised in the book. The students from Davenport will also facilitate a book discussion group.

As a finale to the program, Skloot, the author of the book, will speak at Grand Valley State University’s Pew Campus in downtown Grand Rapids on March 28.

The students are continuing their appearances at City Council, Rotary Club and Chamber of Commerce meetings. The Kentwood students who attended the Board of Education meeting were seniors Dominique Brown and Deleon Marks, and juniors Jayde Niblack and Meghan Baldridge. The Caledonia students were Emily Hazelbach and Madison McClain, president and treasurer of Caledonia’s student council.

“There’s going to be a great networking opportunity there,” said Baldridge. “It’s cool to get the student body and other communities involved. It’s going to be interesting to see what we can do.”

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