District challenges students to read during summer

SAN BENITO — School may be out, but the learning will never stop.

The San Benito school district is encouraging its students to continue reading during their summer vacation.

In its second annual reading competition, the district is challenging students to read between 15 and 25 hours, depending on their grade level, during the summer.

According to library services coordinator Mandy Martinez, the MyOn Reading Challenge keeps students academically engaged and prevents the summer slide.

“It’s summer, we know they want to do other things but it’s important to retain their reading skills,” Martinez said.

Through its MyOn program, students up to the eighth grade will have access to more than 6,000 e-books to continue their reading outside of the classroom.

The program keeps track of the number of minutes each student reads.

From there, librarians are able to print out reports and see how much their students are reading and for how long.

“It’s just for students so they can maintain their literacy skills and not only maintain but strengthen them and get them ready for the next school year,” Martinez said.

Students will also have access to hundreds of audio books through other online agencies from the school district using their student ID.

As an initiative, the district has set goals and prizes for the top three readers for each campus.

To be qualified for a prize, students will be expected to read a certain number of hours throughout the summer depending on their age group.

In addition to the district challenge, the San Benito Public library will host its Summer Reading Program throughout the month of June.

Participants will be given the opportunity to earn prizes for reading and take part in daily presentations.