Radiant Readers serves elementary students district-wide

Over the last two years post-pandemic, the world has seen a massive setback to education and development in youth, especially those in primary school.  As more and more concerns arise from teachers, parents, and many others, this problem affects growth in  many subjects, but impacts one subject the most: reading. That’s why the Radiant Readers Club (RRC) is here to help, aiming for second and third-graders to boost their literacy skills.

The RRC was established fairly recently at CVHS, officially becoming a club last year. The project itself, however, has been running for a little longer. 

“It started off as a Girl Scout Silver Award project as we want to inspire kids and to have a safe online environment for reading. The RRC’s purpose is to give back and help kids become more confident in their reading skills,” said junior and club president Vivian Yang.

The club has a five-member club board as well as other members, who are labeled as staff. They meet entirely online through Zoom meetings every Monday evening. This includes reading time, game time, such as Pictionary or Stickman, and a review of vocab, all from 7:30 p.m. to 8:40 p.m.. This schedule includes perks, like no required lunch meetings and the flexibility of volunteering from home.

The club has experienced huge growth and expansion since last year, from 10 to 13 elementary school students to now serving a whopping number of 65. RRC not only targets just the Castro Valley School District, but many others as well. 

When asked about what goals the club hopes to achieve this school year, the problem of time limited Zoom meetings occur. Since July 15, 2022, Zoom has changed the meeting time limit to 40 minutes, causing inconvenience to the RRC meetings as well as complications with breakout rooms. However, the club is hopeful that they will get through their dilemma.

“We went through a lot of setbacks actually, even now. We’re trying to come up with a solution, and we’re currently in a jam so we hope to have a fundraiser in the future,” says Yang.

Overall, the RRC seems to be a great contribution to the community and a good way to give back. Nevertheless, there is still some rowdiness at times, especially with the kids’ behavior. 

“This club is a great way to fill your volunteer hours while getting the chance to work with children. Reading with the kids is a chaotic but fun reading opportunity,” said sophomore Edison Huang. 

Freshman Vice President Arin Yang agrees. “Being vice president of RRC is fun, because I get to oversee the club and be a part of what happens behind the scenes, but it gets frustrating when things don’t work out,” she added.

Despite its difficulties, the RRC strives to continue running in future years in order to continue supporting kids’ reading and literacy development throughout the Bay Area.

To find out more information about RRC, find them on Instagram @theradiantreaders.