Books for Barbados
Centenary students traveled to Barbados during May to fulfill their culture credit and were able to make a donation of children’s books to local schools. Students organized, weighed, and packed books before leaving. Each student traveled with about twenty pounds of books.
“Having lived in the Caribbean, I am acutely aware that access to books isn’t always easy for students, and many schools may have limited library resources,” states Dr. Andia Augustin-Billy, Associate Professor of French and Francophone Studies, who will be leading the students on the trip. “This initiative is our way of giving back to the communities we visit. Critically, it also provides a valuable opportunity for our students to engage in service and to think about our role as visitors—emphasizing that we aim not just to learn from our host country, but also to contribute positively. We have two school visits scheduled during our time in Barbados, which will be ideal occasions to present these books and for our students to interact with the younger citizens there,”
The books were donated by Caddo Parish Schools to Centenary’s Education Department last summer. The Centenary football team helped transport eighty boxes of books to campus. Students attending the Barbados module were able to select books to take with them, and the rest will be donated to the Magale Library to begin a permanent children’s book collection.
“We greatly appreciate the gift of these books and hope that the children who receive them in Barbados will benefit from the multicultural collection of children’s literature and reference books that our students deliver to them,” states Dr. Joan Turek, Visiting Assistant Professor of Education.