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Sorority donates books to city school
By Denise Dick
YOUNGSTOWN
Lemuel Bonilla, a third-grader at Discovery at Volney, sorted through the pile of donated books before selecting “Henry’s Freedom Box” by Ellen Levine.
“It’s about a family,” said Lemuel, 9, explaining his choice and pointing to an illustration of a family.
His book is one of 50 donated to the school Thursday by the Youngstown Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. The sorority also donated a $250 check, which Principal Misha Scott said will be used to buy more books for the school.
All the donated books are about black history or prominent figures from it, including Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, Michelle Obama, W.E.B. DuBois and Ruby Bridges, the first black child to enter an all-white school in New Orleans.
Dr. Michelle J. McCollin, sorority-chapter president, said education is one of the thrusts of the organization, and Marcia Haire-Ellis, a sorority vice president and school board member, said the group has been donating books to schools for many years.
McCollin said today’s schoolchildren are far removed from the civil-rights movement, but it’s important for them to know about the people and events that shaped it.
It’s a way to bolster children’s self-esteem and self-image in a time when they’re faced with an onslaught of attacks on young people of African descent, she said.
McCollin pointed to the 2013 comments made by an Italian gymnast after the gymnast lost the World Championship all-around gymnastics title to Simone Biles, who is black. The Italian gymnast was quoted as saying, “I told [a teammate] that next time we should also paint our skin black so then we can win, too.”
She later apologized.
Scott allowed each of the third-graders who attended the presentation to keep the book they selected.
She emphasizes to students the importance of reading.
Each elementary-school student must have a book checked out of the library at all times, and middle-schoolers must have two checked out. Discovery at Volney, a new program in the city schools this year, offers third- through eighth-graders exposure to engineering, communication, art, Spanish, dance and orchestra in addition to the core academic areas.
Volney students also spend about 10 minutes daily reading silently.
Third-grader Nathaniel Torres, 8, chose the graphic novel “March Book One” by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell.
“It’s about marching with Martin Luther King,” he said.
Lewis, one of the authors, was a key figure in the civil- rights movement and participated in the 1963 March on Washington. Lewis, 75, is now a U.S. congressman.
Gabriel Ferguson, 8, and also a third-grader, chose the giant “A Pictorial History of African Americans” by Langston Hughes, Jon Michael Spencer and Milton Meltzer.
“It has a lot of people in history,” he said. “I also picked it because it has pictures.”
The sorority’s Five Point Thrust program focuses on education, health and nutrition, political awareness, economic development and international involvement, said Nikki Davis, the organization’s public-relations officer.