Downtown Rotarians Spreading Courage One Book at a Time
Less than a mile from Downtown Sioux Falls, students at Hawthorne Elementary are learning of belonging, mastery, independence, and generosity. The lessons come as a result of the Title I School's Circle of Courage, One-Book-One School Program--a program supported through a donation of books from Downtown Sioux Falls Rotary.
Each classroom reads the same book at the same time each quarter, with students participating in activities appropriate for their grade level to reinforce the concepts learned in the book.
Rotarians began supporting the program after club leaders attended the Large Club Conference in Long Beach in 2019. At that time, the club was giving Rotary mugs to each speaker at weekly meetings. The Long Beach Club shared that they purchased books for an under-served school in the area and had the weekly speakers sign the books to donate in their honor to the school library. They brought the idea back to the board, who wholeheartedly supported the idea.
To date, Downtown Sioux Falls Rotarians have donated over 450 books to Hawthorne Elementary; 16 copies of five different books for each school year. Once they have used the book for the quarter, the book remains in the classroom’s library for the students enjoy and turn back to.
The books are selected by the reading specialist at the school to impart the values of the Circle of Courage: belonging, mastery, independence, and generosity. The 5th concept they learn about in addition to the Circle of Courage is Ubuntu. The term Ubuntu/Botho/Hunhu is a Zulu/Xhosa/Ndebele/Sesotho/Shona word referring to the moral attribute of a person.
Now heading into our 5th year supporting the program, the practice has been extremely well received by our speakers. Principal Jones also shared that the students look forward to seeing who signed their book--which includes many state and community leaders.
Downtown Sioux Falls Rotarians are driven to invest in the bright futures of our communities' young leaders, and we look forward to the continued partnership of Hawthorne Elementary for many school years to come!