“When I read books I imagine I’m in
the story, it’s like I’m in another world” said 9 year old Tatiana as she
smiled up at me while reading her new book that she received from Promising
Pages. On September 24th I
was blessed with the opportunity to go and visit Rama Road Elementary School to
assist with the first “Bigs” meeting for Big Brothers, Big Sisters. On
this day, juniors and seniors from Country Day High School came to the
elementary school to meet with their “Littles.”
This is a 10 year initiative between the high school and the Big
Brother, Big Sister program where the high school students spend an hour a week
at the elementary school with their mentees.
The mentors spend quality time with the elementary school students
participating in activities such as talking, reading, or simply having lunch
with their “Littles.”
Rama Road is a Title 1 elementary
school with 540 students. Of those
students, 87.8% of them are economically disadvantaged. With so many students that are in need,
teachers have to refer kids that they think need extra attention to the program
and they are then placed with their “Bigs.”
Susan Augustine, the Enrollment
and Match Specialist, for the program at Rama Road beams when she talks about
how effective the program is for the students.
As great as the program is, at the end of last school year she had a dilemma
and our relationship with Susan would soon form. When the school year was coming to a close
Susan began planning the end of the year event for all the kids. While planning she was able to get them great
handmade bookmarks, but she realized that the kids had no books to place the
bookmarks in. It was then that Susan
contacted Promising Page’s Executive Director, Kristina Cruise, to see if the organization
would be able to help. The partnership
was a perfect alliance as both organizations mission is to help children in any
way they can. 
When it came time for the end of
the year, Promising Pages was able to donate close to 500 books to the
elementary school students, as well as books for the programs own personal
library. The pairing was such a success
that both parties decided to continue working together and decided to start a
program throughout the school year. For
the 2012-2013 school year, Promising Pages will be hosting our Magic Book
Parties for all 7 first grade classes at Rama Road. The project
will make it so that we may be able to donate at least another 5,000 books to Rama Road
Elementary throughout the year. These
are books that will be going directly to kids like 9 year old Tatiana. 
Susan Augustine summed it up
beautifully when asked how she thought Promising Pages was benefitting the
students at Rama Road, “It gives the students here books to take home with them
and many of them don’t have any books at home. It encourages the kids to
continue to read, and for them to see that reading can be fun.” Hearing statements like this make everything
that we do here at Promising Pages worthwhile. One child and one book at a time,
we will continue to make a difference.
Have a great and blessed week!
-Sandrine Uwera
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