DANDRIDGE, Tenn. — Hannah Crawley is a senior at Jefferson County High School. For her senior capstone project, which is a service learning project, she decided to give out books to the students of Dandridge Elementary School.
"Reading is super important and I want you guys to all keep reading," she said.
She said she visits the school every school day during her service learning block to help Mrs. Raines' kindergarten students.
"I come here every day for about an hour and a half and help them with basically any help they need in the classroom," said Crawley. "And I saw the need for reading, because of a lot of things that have been going on with literacy and stuff. So I wanted, I had the idea, which is pretty ambitious."
Hannah said around 700 books were donated for her project, and she said all 568 students at Dandridge Elementary School got a book. She said the project was important to her because literacy rates across the state are going down.
"I'm in the classroom with the littles who are learning to read, but I know that reading growing up was so important to me and has allowed me to come so far," said Crawley. "And I think with the iPads and all the technology, a lot of kids don't go home and read books anymore. And I think we need to get kids excited about reading and make sure that they want to go home and read a book."
Some students who received books were able to read.
"I love when I can imagine the pictures in a chapter book. And it's fun because then I can talk about it to my parents," said Anna Glenn, a third-grader at Dandridge Elementary School.
But some were just learning to read and said they planned to get their parents to read their books to them.
"My mom teach me how to read, but I forgot," said Braelynn Nielson, a kindergartener.
Even though the younger students couldn't read, they knew the skill was important.
"Because you can learn," said Braelynn. "And when math comes and you gotta read a question, you know how to read."
Hannah said she wrapped the books before she gave them to the students. She said she wanted them to feel excited about getting a book as a gift.
"I know that they're so excited," said Crawley. "And they're gonna come home and show mom and dad and be like, 'Hey, look at this book,' and beg them to read it. And they're gonna read that book tonight. And hopefully, read it a couple of times over break and add it to their collection."
Hannah says she exceeded her goal of giving books to all the students at Dandridge Elementary School, so her extra books will go to Talbott Elementary School.