Panasonic Energy Presented $3,400 Grant to Starside Elementary
From left: Kevin Jeffries, USD232EF Executive Director; Kristen Whitley, Starside Librarian; Jan Hicks, Starside Principal; Norm Messner, USD232EF Board Member; Jessica Young, Starside Fourth Grade Teacher; Nancy Neighbors, USD232EF Board Member;Julie Sailors, Panasonic Community Affairs Manager; Grace Greene, Community Relations Specialist; Dr. Cory Gibson, USD 232 Superintendent; Dr. Joe Kelly, USD 232 Director of Academics; Mrs. Summers' Kindergarten Class at Starside.
The USD 232 Education Foundation, in partnership with Panasonic Energy of North America, awarded $3,400 in grant funds to Starside Elementary for new books to be added to their school library.
Starside Library Media Specialist, Kristen Whitely, provided more detail on their goal and need of funds. After weeding out all of their really old books, she ended up with an average age of the books in their library of 2002. As reported by Whitely,
“Since I have joined Starside, over 20,000 books have been discarded or donated and our average book age is still 23 years old.”
That means that many are books are older than this, and by library standards, new books were needed.
Students are encouraged to participate in the decision making for which books will be added to the library collection. During the first five minutes of their weekly library-time, students share the books they are currently reading, the books they want to check out that day, and make recommendations to classmates.
Grant funds were provided as part of the Panasonic Energy Presenting Sponsorship package for the 2024 Swinging FORE Education Golf Tournament.