Karma for Cara Foundation microgrant recipients have competed in an application process alongside other young people who have spearheaded exceptional service projects that benefit their communities. In order to qualify for a K4C award, an applicant must be 18 years of age or younger, and the project must take place in the US.
K4C microgrant awardee Anshi from MD started The Wild Readers’ Book club to encourage & cultivate interest in literacy with fifth graders living in underrepresented communities.
| What inspired you to start this project? | I started the Wild Readers’ Book club to encourage and cultivate interest in literacy for fifth graders living in underrepresented communities. As a published author who has loved writing and reading since I could hold a pencil, it pains me to hear that some students never get the opportunity to participate in a book club or read mainstream, representative novels due to financial constraints. |
| While working on your project, what surprised you? | One of the best surprises I got out of working on my project was how strong of a connection I was able to make with my book club students. On the day of our last meeting, they all wrote me notes and gave me hugs, thanking me for our weekly meetings which were such a small part of our lives. I never thought my book club could impact them and make them as happy as it did, which truly changed my view towards starting more clubs like this. |
| What do you feel you learned from this experience? | I learned some raw truths after our book club discussions: these young students were carrying a lot of emotional baggage. They connected the characters’ anxiety to their own worries, sharing personal stories and confiding in me to support them. I then discovered that these book clubs are a source of emotional expression and a way for them to release pent-up emotions. Book clubs are important not only to encourage struggling readers but to form friendships and become more in-tune with hard emotions. While these fifth graders were a handful to manage at times, I learned a lot about what it means to be a supportive educator and listener. I was supporting these students, but they also introduced me to a wealth of new ideas. |
| How did Karma for Cara impact your project? | I am incredibly grateful for K4C’s funding of my project; this year, I was able to provide so much more for my student book club and establish precedents to continue spreading these clubs across my county with hopefully more student leaders. Every time I handed out snacks, their faces just lit up and at the end of the club they all gave me a hug. I wouldn’t have been able to impact these students and cultivate this passion for reading without K4C’s immense support. Thank you so, so much. |
| How will your project continue to impact others? | I aspire to continue my book club at Twinbrook in the following years to continue fostering an appreciation for arts and creativity, not just as a way to improve literacy but to improve student well-being. There is a strong positive correlation between creative expression and an improved emotional intelligence among youth, which I believe is important to cultivate. Young people are going through a mental health crisis of immense magnitude, and with my project I hope to empower these students to use their creativity as outlets, as windows into a world that can be full of beautiful things. In the future, I plan on expanding my book club to other Title One schools in my county and train other high school students. |
