MacArthur High School Hosts Gulf Coast Reads Event

MacArthur High School is one of the Aldine ISD campuses that is participating in [icons icon_name=”icon-external-link” icon_size=”14px”]Gulf Coast Reads annual [icons icon_name=”icon-external-link” icon_size=”14px”]reading initiative. Participants recently gathered at the campus. They met at the library to discuss the book “Remember Ben Clayton” by Stephen Harrigan.

Connie Barber organized the event. Barber serves as the information literacy specialist at the campus. She went all out for the gathering. She definitely set the stage for one of the subjects: World War I. The book’s story takes place right after “The Great War of 1914-1918.”

Barber displayed items from the district’s Traveling History Trunk. She displayed many military memorabilia from WWI. All around the library, she displayed many books and resources about WWI that are available to the public to read. She also created red poppies, a symbol of WWI, and baked homemade strawberry shortcakes from a recipe of the period. Due to food rations at the time, the recipe substituted items that were difficult to find or unavailable.

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Participants included campus teachers and students. Even some retired MacArthur High School staff members attended. Cynthia Buchanan and Dorothy Allen also attended the discussion. Buchanan serves as the district’s program director of library media services. Allen serves as the information literacy specialist at MacArthur Ninth Grade School.

Everyone sat together eating Barber’s delicious strawberry shortcake. As they enjoyed dessert, everyone shared his or her thoughts about the book.

Barber enjoyed seeing and hearing from the participants.

“It was wonderful to see many participants,” said Barber. “And everyone enjoyed the book. I was happy to see one of the students participating could join us in the discussion. I enjoyed hearing how everyone interpreted the book and the characters. They also shared some things that stood out for them or resonated with them.”

Author Stephan Harrigan visited the northside of the Houston area as part of the Gulf Coast Reads initiative. Harrigan discussed his book on Wed., Oct. 22. He was at the Montgomery County-South Regional Library in The Woodlands.

Hear Juanita Flores and teacher Bianca Henny share their thoughts about the book. Flores is a senior at the campus and Henny teaches anatomy, physiology and medical microbiology.