Hudson County Community College celebrated its 6th Annual Literacy Day on March 2, Dr. Seuss' birthday.
Dovetailing with Read Across America Day, this event was a festival of reading and fun for children of Hudson County and their parents. Activities included games, arts and crafts, a reading theater, and refreshments. Over 125 children and their parents were in attendance, the largest turnout yet.
This year the event was held in HCCC's Culinary Conference Center, a change from years past. The Conference Center, aside from offering attractive facilities, provided ample space and the availability of light food for purchase. (Free healthy snacks and juice were available for the children.) According to Dean Christopher Wahl, "The renaissance of this event was conceived at the first Synergy Meeting chaired by Ana Chapman last summer.... [The event committee was] able to invite representatives from Enrollment Services and Noncredit to distribute material about college offerings." In addition, a representative from the Division of Youth and Family Service’s Adoptive Foster Care Program was present to distribute information about local fostering and adoption opportunities.
HCCC faculty and staff served as volunteers to facilitate the event. Especially instrumental were Prof. Kathryn Buckley, Prof. Sean Egan, Elizabeth Nesius, Prof. Timothy Peacock, and Prof. Brian Plunkett from Academic Foundations; Prof. Katie Sweeting and Prof. Julie Willis from Humanities; and George Heffelle, Director of the Conference Center. Prof. Sharon D'Agastino (Academic Foundations) chaired the planning committee and coordinated the entire event.
Over nine boxes of age-appropriate books were distributed to children who attended, as well as a "goody bag" containing crayons, colored pencils, Dr. Seuss bookmarks, erasers and activities pages. Books were also distributed by First Books, represented by Lorenzo Richardson.
The New Jersey Journal was present, taking photographs. You can view a slideshow of the images here.
HCCC would like to thank all of the volunteers and participants who made this event such a success. We're already looking forward to next year!
