The USN community set a goal to read 25,000 pages during Read Across USN Week, and it's safe to say, we're going to need a bigger goal next year. Read on to find out our final number and our raffle winners.
By Kate Pritchard, Library Director
Dear USN community: Wow. Wow, wow, wow. We asked you to track your reading for one week to see if we could reach a goal of 25,000 pages read by our school community, and let me just say: You did not disappoint. Our final tally for Read Across USN Week? 242,128 pages.
Two hundred and forty-two thousand, one hundred and twenty-eight pages. That’s not just double or triple our target; that’s nearly ten times our goal.
Every page you turned, every audiobook you listened to in the car or on a walk, and for our band students, even the music you sight-read — it all added up to an enormous achievement that exceeded our wildest expectations.
All participants were also entered into a raffle for Parnassus gift cards, with one prize for each division, and one for faculty & staff. The lucky winners are Arianna Kennedy '33 for Lower School; Neel Sinha '31 for Middle School; Asher Freiberg '27 for High School; and Middle School Learning Specialist Anna Claire McKay for faculty & staff.
We want to give a huge thank-you to everyone who participated in Read Across USN Week; to all the teachers, staff, and administrators who supported this program; and to everyone who encouraged their friends, families, students, and others to pick up a book, to notice all the ways we read in our daily lives, and to keep track of their pages for a few days.
Now the question is: what should we aim for next year?
Allison Van Konynenburg returns to USN as Interim HS Dean of Teaching and Learning. Taking on additional responsibilities this academic year, Justin Fitzpatrick is now Interim HS Dean for Academic Affairs and Laura Snow is the High School Academic Operations Manager.
Please join us in welcoming to USN: LS Spanish Teacher Connor Mitchell, LS Music Teacher Marisa Frank, LS Learning Support Specialist MacKenzie Grant, Fourth Grade Teacher Alexis Novotny, Second Grade Teachers Cara Bishop and Lindsay Moates, First Grade Teachers Marisa Depke and Molly Roth '10, and Kindergarten Teacher Ellen Haber '00. Also, Naturalist Carrie Riley transitions to LS from the HS Science Department.
USN Mission: University School of Nashville models the best educational practices. In an environment that represents the cultural and ethnic composition of Metropolitan Nashville, USN fosters each student’s intellectual, artistic, and athletic potential, valuing and inspiring integrity, creative expression, a love of learning, and the pursuit of excellence.