The Rotary Club of Ceres and Kirsten Saint, Ceres Rotary President and Director of Elementary Instruction for Ceres Unified School District, have been recognized with the Advocate for School Libraries Award.
Saint received the award on Feb. 2 at the California School Library Association Conference in San Jose. She was joined in the celebration by the Ceres Unified School District librarians and library media clerks.
Nominated by Claudette Lee, Ceres Unified School District’s TK-6 Librarian, the award is given to individuals or groups (not currently employed in school libraries) who actively support and advocate for school libraries.
Ceres Rotary and Saint have made a significant impact on literacy in Ceres Unified through various initiatives. The group has distributed dictionaries to all third-graders and through Rotary Read-In, Rotarians and community volunteers read to classrooms and then donate books to school libraries. The club has also partnered with the Imagination Library to provide a free book each month to registered children, fostering a love for reading from an early age.
Ceres Rotarians are hoping to contribute books to Little Free Libraries that are being established across local schools, further expanding access to literature for students.