STC BOOK WEEK
Sha Tin College’s English Department, Library and VOiCE team was proud to present its annual Book Week from February 28th to March 7th. This year, the central theme of Book Week was ‘Diversity’; this theme was chosen as the student-led VOiCE team wanted to ‘promote a wider appreciation of diverse creative work through (their) publication and activities’.
Student participation and school spirit was deemed to be one of the most critical components of Book Week. Thus, a series of literary-themed house events were planned and lined up throughout the week. Such events included the Bookmark Competition and the Dress-Up Competition, where students’ creative juices ebbed into their bookmark designs and students’ love for their favourite characters were showcased through their literary character dress-up costumes, respectively. The competitive spirit shone through the 4 houses of STC: a result of 68 Bookmark Competition submissions and 52 student Dress Up Competition submissions could see to that. Even some teachers joined in the creative fun and dressed up as their favourite literary characters!
Of course, Book Week would not be complete without books. The activities ‘Take A Pic With Your Favourite Book’, ‘Book Of The Year,’ and ‘Drop Everything And Read’ (D.E.A.R.) also took place. Needless to say, the enthusiasm that was seen from the students was undeniable. A plethora of photo and book submissions from a large assortment of genres were submitted by students from across all year groups for ‘Take A Pic With Your Favourite Book’ and ‘Book Of The Year’. As a result, a giant collage of students posing with their favourite books was created, while a shortlist of the most popular books read by and voted for by STC students was published for students to explore. The D.E.A.R. activity took place on World Book Day, March 3rd, where students immersed themselves in their books for 15 minutes during their period 3 lesson time.
In addition, the VOiCE team created a Read-A-Thon activity, with the aim to “celebrate reading whilst fundraising for a meaningful cause”. The Read-A-Thon activity did indeed fundraise for a meaningful cause; the activities’ proceeds were donated to Room To Read, a nonprofit organisation aimed to improve children’s literacy and girls’ education across Asia and Africa. VOiCE aimed to raise $5000 for Room To Read but in turn received an astonishing amount of over $13500. An overwhelming achievement for the VOiCE team!
“We wanted Book Week to celebrate diversity in literature and the wide range of books and authors there is to offer. We tried to incorporate the theme of diversity through our activities, such as the bookmark competition, the dress-up day, and author visits. Moreover, we organised a school-wide read-a-thon to raise money for Room To Read. We were so happy that the STC community actively took part in our activities; the VOiCE team enjoyed organising Book Week immensely and hoped the students and teachers felt the same way!” said Kadence Wong, one of the editor in chiefs of VOiCE.
A huge thank you to Ms Hansen, Ms Daw and the VOiCE team for constructing and organising this year’s Book Week so smoothly and successfully!
Writer: Grace Yeung
