The St. Bonaventure University Reading Center is once again partnering with Archbishop Walsh Academy/Southern Tier Catholic School of Olean to conduct its Fall In Love With Reading summer reading program aimed at improving children’s reading skills and making reading fun.

 

The seven-week program, open to students who will be entering grades five through 12 next fall, runs from July 11 to Aug. 17. Participants will attend two 90-minute sessions each week at Walsh/Southern Tier Catholic, located on West State Street in Olean. There, they will be supervised while meeting virtually with program instructors, all of them students pursuing master’s degrees in literacy at SBU. 

 

“Our graduate B-12 literacy program went fully online in 2021-22 so many of our students live in other states,” said Sheri Voss, assistant professor of literacy and program director. “We’re able to continue to utilize their expertise as teachers in the summer reading program through a virtual connection.”

 

Summer reading program participants will report to Walsh/Southern Tier Catholic on Monday and Wednesday of each week. Two time slots are available: 9-10:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Students will be supervised and aided onsite by Voss and Sabrina Irving, supervisor of the SBU Reading Center and a reading specialist at Hinsdale Central School, while meeting virtually with their literary specialist.

 

The cost to attend is $25 per child. Space in the program is limited so parents are encouraged to register their children as soon as possible. While instruction is virtual, a small number of face-to-face slots are available. The application deadline is June 1.

 

Each student in the program receives one-to-one or small-group virtual instruction, a diagnostic reading evaluation, use of an iPad on which to meet with their instructor while at Archbishop Walsh, an educational plan, snacks and a drink at each session, and a certificate and T-shirt upon completion of the program.

 

“This will be an energized, supervised environment that will propel reading literacy using digital technology and hands-on interactive reading games around high-interest texts,” said Voss. “It’s a wonderful opportunity for children to get individualized attention, discover reading skills, and to build upon those strengths to experience the joy of reading.”

 

The iPads the students will use to connect with their instructors are being provided by a contribution from St. Bonaventure’s Keenan-LeBoeuf and McGowan School of Education Fund, established by retired Brigadier General Maureen Keenan-LeBoeuf, an SBU alumna, and her husband, Joe.

 

“The Reading Center is designed to discover a child’s reading skills and foster a love for reading,” said Voss. “We help a child gain strategies in many pillars of reading including such things as phonics and word-attack strategies, vocabulary building, fluency and comprehension.”

 

To register a child for the program, visit the SBU Reading Center website at www.sbu.edu/learningtoread and complete an online application. Parents of accepted children will be emailed a confirmation letter, information forms, and instructions for paying the $25 tuition.

 

For questions or more information about the program, contact Voss at (716) 375-2368 or by email at svoss@sbu.edu.

 

 

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About the University: The nation’s first Franciscan university, St. Bonaventure University is a community committed to transforming the lives of our students inside and outside the classroom, inspiring in them a lifelong commitment to service and citizenship. St. Bonaventure was named the #5 regional university value in the North in U.S. News and World Report’s 2022 college rankings edition.