Our Local Projects
Michigan
River Rouge STEM Academy
Our first project was to help provide a full library to the students at River Rouge STEM Academy (K-8). We have provided them with 20+ boxes of books. When we visited this school, we were overwhelmed with warm welcomes and kind gestures from students. Even though this school focuses on a heavy STEM curriculum, we are determined to make reading a part of every kid's routine. Around 315 kids are enrolled at this school currently, but the numbers are expected to increase. 95% of the student body are students with a minority background, which they are proud of show off.
Memorial Elementary
"We encourage our students to bring in gently used books to swap out for "new" books. We are adding the donated books to this event and our students are loving it." -Jill Larkins, Principal of Memorial Elementary.
On May 5th, 2023 our members went to meet up with Jill Larkins - the principal of Memorial Elementary - and donated over 15 boxes of books to the Elementary. We enjoyed hearing about how Memorial Elementary promotes reading to their students, and how they overcome many of the kids' lower-income backgrounds. They created a book exchange program where students could swap their old books with the ones we gave. All of the classes in the school ended up getting to read a new book for the week! We had a great time meeting Jill and her husband, and are thankful that we could help over 400 kids there!
Whitman Elementary
On June 5th members of the New Page Project met up with Ms. Toye from Whitman Elementary School, a school in the Pontiac District, to donate books. During our meet, Ms. Toye talked about how Whitman is implementing iREADY reading tests to combat dropping literacy rates. They are also adding more classroom libraries for comfort. In addition, she mentioned Whitman Elementary's interest in our potential diverse read aloud programs in the future.
We donated a total of around 800 books, and are honored to help the students at Whitman Elementary!
Pasteur Elementary
On Saturday, October 21, 2023, we met with staff from Pasteur Elementary School - a school in Detroit, MI. We donated over 1,500 books with levels from PreK to fifth grade.
This was one of the New Page Project's most successful book donations since becoming a non-profit, and the first donation of more than a thousand books!
Pasteur Elementary's library had fallen into disuse - not a single student had checked out a book since 2006. The New Page Project hopes that our contribution will change that. In addition, we are working with Pasteur to implement our diverse read-aloud curriculum and a digitalized cataloging system to replace their paper one.
The New Page Project is grateful to have helped bridge the educational gap while increasing diversity and inclusion in schools. As for the future, we will work hard to help Pasteur Elementary rebuild its library!
Wattles Elementary
On October 23, 2023, we met a staff member from Wattles Elementary School and dropped off several boxes of books.
The New Page Project has been working hard on a read-aloud activity with diverse books to teach children about other cultures. The Wattles staff were very interested in this diversity curriculum and allowed us to do a test run on their 2nd graders in late November or early December. We're very excited to finally put our curriculum into action!
The New Page Project is glad to have helped one of our local elementary schools in Troy, MI, and look forward to working with them again!
Stevenson Elementary
On October 31, 2024, we met with teachers from Stevenson Elementary School in Southfield, Michigan. We donated several boxes of books to them, and got to learn about several issues their facing. The teachers also told us about their efforts to expand a youth community - such as creating a Model UN chapter at their school. We hope to work with them again in the future to give Southfield students more opportunities!
