The summer reading assignment at Sequoyah has gone through dramatic change over the course of a few years. It began as a part of the mandatory stewardship program, and has now evolved into a single mandatory book based on grade level. But how are students feeling about this change, and what does the future hold for our summer reading?
As described by the Summer Reading Committees co-chairs, Loella Kleiner ’27 and Quinn O’Maley ’27, the mandatory Stewardship program included reading and discussion for 45 minutes every Friday, in the time that is now Community Meeting. Then, Stewardship became optional and that reading time dissolved, and therefore the Summer Reading Committee became optional. The Summer Reading Committee assigns a few themed books to read over the summer, and discusses them in regular club meetings.
When asked about their personal reasons for caring about the Committee, Kleiner says, “I just remember coming to Sequoyah, and I thought it was cool that we were all reading, like, a book over the summer together, and it was kind of like a fun activity. And, it's also just important that we promote reading at school.”
However, the interest of students in the Committee has dropped, ever since the introduction throughout all grades of mandatory summer reading last year.
“Comparing… our optional book club that's, like, just fun over the summer with, like, a mandatory thing that students have to read made it really difficult… When choosing to read a book over the summer, might as well read the mandatory one and not the one that you want to read,” says Quinn O’Malley ’27, co-chair of the Committee. The fact that Stewardship and therefore the Summer Reading Committee is no longer required also poses other difficulties, such as the fact that there is no longer teacher support offered. Kleiner says, “we don't get anything [referring to teacher support]... We have to work really hard to, like, get students to meetings and then, like, plan it on our own and somehow, like, try to fit it into the school day.”
Kleiner adds, “What I really want is for Sequoyah to make it mandatory again.”
But what do other students think about the reading they’ve been doing? Logan Bravo ’30, was disappointed in this year’s required reading, which for the freshman class was the book Feed by M.T. Anderson. He says that despite having a good concept, the book was written in a “robotic and lifeless” manner. Bravo states, “The sort of idea that MT Anderson is trying to propose, it makes sense, but the way he goes about it, and the overall story, it has unlikable characters and unenjoyable language.”
Bravo’s opinion on the future of the summer reading is similarly critical of the system. “I think we should continue to do this summer reading, but the problem is, after we finish reading the book, we don't go into any detail about it or we don't discuss it. Because when I finished reading the book, I thought we were going to discuss it in class, say, for example, like humanities. And we didn't. So it kind of felt like a bit of a redundant task [rather] than something to, like, enjoy over the summer.” Bravo thinks there are definitely ways in which summer reading can be improved, and he hopes that Sequoyah creates a more engaging system for the future.
This sentiment is shared with the co-chairs, who think that the mandatory reading is trying to do the job that the Committee has previously done, but unsuccessfully. While Kleiner and O’Malley think that the reading the Committee assigns doesn’t have to be associated with the curriculum, because it is discussed in a separate space, they think that if Sequoyah is going to introduce a “competitor” to the Summer Reading Committee, they should at least discuss the books in class.
“My critique of the administration is that they haven't really worked in the mandatory books and all into the curriculum, so I don't really know why it was that necessary,” O’Malley says.
Elizabeth Cantwell, the chair of the Humanities Department, says the current system has impacted people on a “student-by-student basis.” “I know I heard from a few students this year that they were frustrated that they read a book and didn't do anything with it. I also heard from a few students that said they didn't read the book,” Cantwell explains. She says the summer reading program is something the faculty “will want to keep thinking about and grappling with.
Overall, the environment of Sequoyah is not anti-reading, and the problem appears to be that we are so passionate about reading that we have competing systems. The Committee cares about what is happening with our summer reading, the staff cares about what is happening with our summer reading, and the students do too. However, students have shown that the current system is not working, and going forward, if we want to be promoting reading in the best way possible, things need to change.