By Dahrian Ranis, Contributing Writer
A semester-long competition is being held by the Blough-Weis Library to encourage learning and student engagement outside of the classroom.
The competition, SU Reads, is an event open to students, faculty and staff. To participate in SU Reads, competitors need to track the number of pages they read until Dec. 8. Course readings and leisure readings count as acceptable material for the competition.
To register for SU Reads, interested readers can pick up a competition bookmark at the library and email assistant professor and research librarian Ryan Ake at ake@susqu.edu.
Susquehanna librarians hope the competition will boost students’ overall reading time and critical thinking skills for their classes. In addition to academic benefits, there will be small prizes awarded throughout the semester and one overall competition winner. Prizes will be reserved for students, but faculty and staff are still encouraged to track their reading as well.
SU Reads was established to help students with lifelong learning and literacy, in addition to staying on top of assigned class readings, Ake said.
Ake believes that textbooks, novels and newspaper articles assigned as class readings are an important piece of quality education and a staple in the creation of astute, global citizens. Ake said that many Susquehanna University students will go on to be global citizens after receiving an education here, where events like SU Reads are incorporated into student life.
“We want to provide a fun incentive for keeping students on track and making sure they are not only doing those course readings, but thinking critically about them as well,” Ake said.
It is no coincidence that leisure reading counts for the SU Reads competition. According to Ake, it is important to read for personal fulfillment on top of required academic readings. Ake wants to reward students for their love of literature, whether they read poetry, historical non- fiction or anything in between.
For example, Ake believes that a student eagerly awaiting the return of the television show “Game of Thrones” should be rewarded for reading the series “A Song of Ice and Fire,” which inspired the aforementioned show.
In case anyone is worried that leisure reading may overshadow academic reading this semester, Ake explained that reading time for both was considered when designing SU Reads.
“We made sure to include course readings in this competition to make sure we weren’t distracting students from regular coursework,” Ake said.
In fact, Ake believes that many students will not even have time to complete any leisurely reading on top of their academic work. However, he does believe that if students have the time to read a book for fun, it will give them the opportunity to discover some fantastic stories and maybe even push them ahead in the competition.
