Randolph Community College Early Childhood Education students and faculty display several of the books that were donated in this year’s ECE Department Book Drive Tuesday, Nov. 5.
ASHEBORO — Randolph Community College Early Childhood Education students recently donated more than 700 books to Randolph County Partnership for Children Tuesday, Nov. 5, as part of the third annual ECE Department Book Drive.
Randolph County Partnership for Children Family & Literacy Engagement Specialist Meredith Shields speaks to the students and faculty.
“The things that you share that tie in with emotion really make a difference,” said Meredith Shields, RCPC Family & Literacy Engagement Specialist, to the ECE students and instructors. “I just encourage you to continue to share out those moments, those memories and make learning fun and reading exciting through your energy and experience for not just the children, but the parents. Continue to reach out to those caregivers, even if they don’t reach out to you immediately. You’re the professionals. Just keep at it.”
RCPC came to pick up eight large boxes of books Tuesday. In all, the students have donated close to 2,000 books over three years. This year’s drive focused on chapter books.
“This year, we suggested more chapter books,” RCC Early Childhood Education Department Head Angela Cox said. “Probably at least half of these books are chapter. [RCPC members] were saying they would be in a parade and younger children would be in the front and would get a book, but their siblings were right behind them, but didn’t get a book. This is awesome.”
Cox saw firsthand all of the child literacy programs Randolph County Partnership for Children offers when she joined the board in 2017, which led to a light bulb.
“I saw the need for books,” Cox said. “My passion is early literacy — getting to hand a child a book who has never gotten a book.”
Cox started a book drive within her department, offering extra credit to students for book donations, all going to the Partnership and on to little hands.
