Seniors at Dolores High School, with help from English teacher Jessica Kuntz, are partnering with the Dolores Public Library to launch an after-school program aimed at reversing a decline in literacy among teens ages 13 to 18.
The initiative aims to boost teen literacy in Montezuma County, where 25% of residents have low reading proficiency. The county also ranks among the highest in the state for child poverty, according to Kuntz.
“I think it’s a crisis,” Kuntz told The Journal.
Kuntz’s idea stems from her pursuit of a master’s degree in English education. As part of an action research project, she explored the link between literacy and poverty. Kuntz said she discovered that teens living in poverty often lack access to the educational resources available to their peers.
“We have to do an action research project about a challenge that we see in our classrooms. The challenge that I picked was the correlation between poverty and literacy, especially in rural school districts,” Kuntz said.
After speaking with the library’s children’s director, Hannah Carloni, Kuntz realized Montezuma County lacked high school-focused literacy program – and that a program like hers was needed.
The brainstorming and planning phase of the project runs through Thursday, Oct. 2, with about 20 of Kuntz’s English 4 students participating. Students will divide their time between the classroom and the library, where they’ll conduct research, develop marketing strategies and plan the program. They’ll also write research papers based on their findings.
Other aspects of the project include creating flyers, launching social media campaigns and designing activities tailored to students’ interests.
An open house is tentatively scheduled at the library for Oct. 2. If all goes as planned, it will mark the official public launch of the program.
“I said, ‘Let’s make it reading and literacy a priority,’ but that doesn’t necessarily mean (we couldn’t do other things). We could do arts and crafts, culinary stuff, computer literacy. So, it’s not just focused around literacy, though that is the primary objective,” Kuntz said.
Once launched, the program will be open to all teens ages 13 to 18 in Montezuma County, regardless of reading proficiency. It’s also intended to become a permanent fixture at the Dolores Public Library.
“Getting them actually excited about reading and more invested in their books and education is what I’m really going for,” Kuntz said.
