Winnie Jiang

National Read Across America Day celebrates and encourages reading among children. In the month leading up to March 2, a number of local organizations and businesses held events to promote child literacy. 

As part of the longstanding partnership between the hotel and the local organization, students at New Haven Reads designed bookmarks to accompany The Study’s hotel key cards, which were then distributed at check-in. The hotel’s lounge also hosted a book display featuring the students’ favorite books. In addition, the Study’s website features a donation link where guests can donate to New Haven Reads, with all contributions matched by the hotel. Meanwhile, the United Way of Greater New Haven continued its annual tradition of donating books to 3,000 students across the Greater New Haven Area.

“We are so proud of our partnership with the Study,” Hayley Harrington, education director at New Haven Reads, said. “We share similar values around the importance of literature and reading from an early age.” 

The Study’s Director of Brand Marketing and Communications Heather Gayatgay told the News that New Haven Reads’ mission to promote reading aligns with the hotel brand’s own literary focus. The Study’s branding features a reading glass logo and the slogan “Read, Rest, Reflect.” The hotel’s amenities also include a large selection of reading material for its guests. 

According to Harrington, New Haven Reads hosts different workshops and learning events for children in New Haven to improve their literacy skills. Some of these workshops are hosted by The Study at Yale. Moreover, The Study provides its patrons with the opportunity to donate to New Haven Reads. 

“Promoting youth literacy and giving back to the community are both priorities of our founder,” Gayatgay said. “Study Hotels was conceived around the idea that our service offering is enhanced by embracing and connecting our guests to the University experience.” 

Gayatgay said that when The Study at Yale first opened in 2008, the general manager came across an article about New Haven Reads and its mission. She said that the manager immediately felt that the organization was the right partner for them. 

In addition to donating to New Haven Reads during the month of March, The Study also organizes numerous other initiatives with the local organization. According to Gayatgay, the hotel hosts New Haven Reads’ annual Breakfast with Santa holiday events, sponsors their annual Spelling Bee fundraisers and has donated hundreds of notebooks at the start of each school year.  The students of New Haven Reads also create the ornaments for the hotel’s holiday trees and design holiday cards which are distributed to the hotel’s partners and top guests.

“As we reactivate our cultural programming post pandemic, it only made sense to start with a celebration of reading with our close partner, New Haven Reads,” Gayatgay said. “We’re eager to re-engage and continue this important initiative in person again.”

This year, United Way also continued its yearly tradition of donating books to elementary schools across the New Haven area. 

According to United Way President Jennifer Heath, Read Across America celebrations were held at the Obama School, Clinton Avenue School, Dr. Reginald Mayo Early Childhood School and Barnard School.

“Helping kids have a love of reading and books is really valuable,” said Heath. “We know literacy is such an important skill. And reading aloud to kids is what really helps them build their vocabularies. And so all that comes together to help support kids [to] be successful.”

United Way also works to bring volunteer readers into these schools so that students can fully enjoy the celebration. 

The Connecticut Education Association also celebrated Read Across America Day by hosting a Read Across Connecticut event this week.

“Reading is so fundamentally important, and our Read Across Connecticut project encourages children to pick up a book and learn how reading is fun,” CEA Vice President Joslyn DeLancey said. “As a fifth-grade teacher, there was no greater or more magical time in my class than while reading. Read-alouds inspire dynamic and important conversations and cultivate a community of caring, reflective young students. Independent reading time allows students to build a love of reading and recognize that books can take you anywhere.”

The New Haven public school system is comprised of 44 schools.