SP Elementary Wins Library's Chesapeake Cup

Students at Severna Park Elementary School were recognized for their Summer Reading efforts on Monday.

The school received the Anne Arundel County Public Library’s (AACPL) Chesapeake Cup at an assembly on Monday morning.

According to a release, the Cup is awarded annually to one public and one private school that achieve at least 25 percent participation in AACPL’s Summer Reading Club.

Severna Park Elementary was chosen at random from the list of public schools that achieved that milestone. Principal Lynn Birus was very excited and pleased with the school’s accomplishment.

“I am so proud that so many of our boys and girls kept reading this summer!” said Birus in an email to Patch. “Reading is so important for everything we do in life and a love of learning is what we try to instill each day.”

According to the library, 327 Severna Park Elementary School students registered for the Summer Reading Club in 2012, giving it one of the highest levels of participation of public schools in the county.

“The fact that we had 39 percent of our students go to the library is due to the dedicated parents who believe in the power of reading and who took them to the library this year,” said Birus. “We also have a wonderful media teacher, Mrs. Levitt who talks up the summer reading program and even carries big signs to remind our families to sign up. “

Birus also credited the classroom teachers for the school’s summer reading success.

 “We also have dedicated classroom teachers that encourage and support students and their love of reading every day,” she said.

AACPL Administrator Skip Auld presented Severna Park Elementary school with the Chesapeake Cup at the assembly Monday morning.

All Severna Park Elementary students received a certificate marking their achievement and Sneaks, the Library Cat, was on-hand to personally congratulate the kids.

Birus said that students are taught so many things during the school year and it can sometimes be hard to remember it throughout the entire summer, but reading can help.

”It’s an amazing phenomenon, the more kids read, the better they become at reading; the better kids are at reading, the more they will find that books provide fuel for the imagination and broaden their knowledge base, their vocabulary, their memory, and even their imagination,” Birus said.

AACPL also awarded framed certificates of achievement to each public and private school that achieved at least 25 percent participation in the Summer Reading Club. Severna Park elementary schools that received this certificate include, Benfield, Folger McKinsey, Jones and Shipley's Choice.

"Just like food helps the body to grow, reading books actually helps improve all learning,” Birus said. “Studies show that students who read in the summer are more successful in the following school year."