Faces of the Valley: New Kensington Girl Scouts increase reading opportunities with ‘little library’ project
Share this post:
Two New Kensington Girl Scouts who know not every child in their community has books to read at home wanted to do something about that.
To earn their Silver Award, friends and troopmates Kamryn Graham, 14, and Aceyln Sell, 13, built three “little libraries.” One stands outside each of New Kensington-Arnold’s three elementary schools — Martin in New Kensington and H.D. Berkey and Roy A. Hunt in Arnold.
The sturdy black boxes installed in January are stuffed full of books. Anyone can take a book to read and keep it or bring it back, and leave books for others.
“I’m pretty proud of it,” Acelyn said. “It’s nice to know we made a difference in the community.”
Kamryn said they knew not all children are able to get books at their school book fairs.
“We wanted to be able to give kids the opportunity to access books,” she said.
The Silver Award, slotted between the Bronze and Gold awards, is one of the highest awards for Girl Scouts.
Kamryn and Acelyn are members of Troop 26234. The troop did a Bronze Award project together, gathering donations for an animal shelter.
Friends since first grade, Kamryn and Acelyn are both in eighth grade and attend the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School.
Acelyn’s mom, Adrienne Sell, said Acelyn joined the Girl Scouts in kindergarten after they got a flier at home. Kamryn’s mom, Jane Graham, said Kamryn joined in second grade after becoming friends with girls already in it.
Sell was in Girl Scouts but for only two years.
“I am incredibly proud of them for seeing a need in the community and wanting to fill that,” she said. “They both love to read. And so the fact they want to make sure the kids in the community have easy access to books just warms my heart.”
Graham, a member of the New Kensington-Arnold School Board, was moved when she heard of a second grade boy who was super excited to take home a book from the library outside his school at H.D. Berkey.
“I’m an easy crier,” Graham said. “They were making a difference.”
Kamryn and Acelyn asked a former teacher, Kara Finkel, who now teaches third grade at Hunt, to be their project sponsor.
“I was very honored. I was a Girl Scout myself. I earned my Silver Award in Girl Scouts,” Finkel said. “When they asked me, I was, absolutely, yes, I’d do this.”
The little library project was perfect for them, Finkel said.
“Both of the girls are and always have been amazing readers. Their noses were always stuck in a book,” she said. “They wanted to be able to get more books into the hands of more kids in the community.”
Kamryn and Acelyn built the libraries over the summer of 2022 around all of their other activities, Graham said. But before they did that, they had to have their project approved by the school district and the Girl Scouts.
“It was lots and lots of approvals before they could even get started,” Sell said.
Graham said they decided to present it to the district first. The libraries would be on school grounds, and, if the district said no, there was no point in taking it to the Girl Scouts.
Finkel said the girls laid out their whole plan for her to review before taking it to Superintendent Chris Sefcheck.
“I gave them some pointers and suggested some things they should add to make the presentation more presentable,” she said.
Sefcheck said the girls did a wonderful job presenting their vision, ideas and methods to accomplish their goals.
“I was very impressed with their passion, commitment and professionalism throughout the process. They made it very easy to support their ideas and showed tremendous leadership skills,” he said. “Having these books readily available for our students outside of school certainly creates opportunities for kids to practice reading and enjoy such an important fundamental skill.”
Sell said the construction of the libraries was a learning experience.
“For an adult, figuring out a box is easy. You have to think, this was two 13-year-old girls, and they never built anything,” Graham said.
Part of their attention to detail is that the boxes aren’t all the same. The one at Martin, a kindergarten school, is shorter so the younger children can reach it.
Protecting the books from rain was one of the things the girls had to figure out. The doors took the longest, Graham said. To test them, the girls left the boxes outside in a good storm or two to be sure they stayed dry inside.
“That was all them,” Graham said. “I wouldn’t have thought of that.”
The boxes wouldn’t be libraries without books, so Kamryn and Acelyn had to get those, too. They sought donations and bought from library sales and anywhere they could find them at low cost.
Their efforts were so successful that even with each library stocked, Graham said she still has well over 2,500 books in her garage that will find their way to them.
The libraries aren’t just for children. While the books at Martin are aimed younger, there is a mix of books from young adult to adult at H.D. Berkey and Hunt, Sell said.
“Anyone can come and take a book, so we wanted there to be a variety,” Sell said.
Graham said the girls will continue to stock the libraries, which, as they grow and move on from their troop, the schools and the community can help keep supplied.
“We have spoken to their troop leader about how this can be a project passed on to the younger troop members when the girls move on from Girl Scouts,” Sell said.