Oct. 3, 2002 – Almost 200 high school students on St. Croix will receive free books thanks to a partnership between the University of the Virgin Islands and the U.S. Education Department. Ninety students from Central High School and 90 students from the Educational Complex High School will receive the books at a "Reading is Fundamental" distribution to be held from 9 to 11 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 4 on UVI’s St. Croix campus.
The books include classics by John Steinbeck, Ernest Hemingway and Toni Morrison. "We hope that, through the distribution of these books, young people will start developing their own home libraries," said UVI St. Croix campus humanities chairwoman and professor Valerie Knowles-Combie.
The purchase of the books was made possible by an $892 grant from the federal agency obtained by Knowles-Combie. The U.S. agency, UVI and a series of outside donors, including Wiesner Development Co. on St. Croix, supported the distribution project.
Friday’s program will include a welcome from Chancellor Jennifer Jackson, remarks by St. Croix "Reading is Fundamental" coordinator Zoraida Jacobs, Central High School principal Kent Moorehead and Educational Complex
principal Kurt Vialet. There will also be storytelling and the reading of excerpts.
As part of the "Reading is Fundamental" campaign, the UVI St. Croix campus will be the site of several book distributions in the months to come. A second distribution will take place in early December and a third in February.
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