SMU students are encouraged to return from fall break bearing all their old books from childhood.

A book drive, ending Wednesday, will benefit first-graders from West Dallas in an effort to promote literacy. Books will be distributed at Reading for a Reason, scheduled for Oct. 18.

Reading for a Reason will bring 150 first-grade students and their parents to SMU’s campus to learn about literacy. Children will be split into groups where an SMU volunteer will read two books and play educational games with the West Dallas students. Parents will attend an informational session in the Simmons School of Education and Human Development to teach them how to read with their children and facilitate literacy at home. SMU senior Eleanor Rosler came up with the idea after she realized that she wanted to do something bigger than volunteering on a weekly basis. Rosler is one of the founders of Mustang Heroes, a service organization on campus. She has had a passion for volunteering with children since she was in the 10th grade, so this event was right up her alley.

“While all volunteering is important, helping kids is something that sparks a true passion for me. Having a plethora of books at a young age was so beneficial to my childhood, so I wanted to make sure that all kids had that same opportunity,” Rosler said.

SMU students Antonea Bastian, Carissa Grisham, Kayce Pederson and Emily Towler are also responsible for organizing this event, along with a grant from the SMU Big iDeas program.

Senior Bastian got involved because of her passion for education. She knew literacy was a cause she wanted to work for when she came across a statistic that linked poor reading skills in third-graders with teen pregnancy. “When I look at my own educational career, it was falling in love with books and subjects that made my school work come to life,” Bastian said.

Sophomore Towler hopes the event will also have a positive impact on SMU students. “It is so important to students to be engaged in the community around us,” Towler said. “It is incredibly easy to live on the beautiful SMU campus and forget that anything else exists in Dallas. However, there are so many larger issues that we can help solve right in our own backyard. In addition to narrowing the literacy gap in Dallas, we really hope this event inspires our peers to take a more active role in serving
their community.”

Books can be donated until Wednesday in Umphrey Lee, Virginia-Snider Hall, McElvaney Hall and the Mustang Heroes office.