Everett school gives ice cream to students who get library cards

EVERETT — The ice cream bars were stashed in freezers around Evergreen Middle School.

Every day at lunch, Assistant Principal Carmen Boggs asked students with new library cards to come forward.

“I gave them an ice cream bar, and I hugged them, and I told them what a great reader they are,” she said.

Her work was part of a new effort this year coordinated between the school and Everett Public Libraries to encourage children and teenagers to read. Evergreen Middle has many students who are immigrants and not familiar with community libraries, Boggs said. At first, some kids thought she meant the school’s small library. Others didn’t know the public library loaned out books and movies for free.

“The idea that they could go and just borrow a book was so exciting,” she said. “One girl said to me, ‘It’s a whole building full of books!’”

Boggs is in her second year as assistant principal at the school, where she taught special education for about a decade. She grew up in North Dakota, where her local library was a social hub, she said. She knows reading is a major factor in student success.

Boggs has been working closely with Alan Jacobson, manager of the library’s Evergreen Branch on Evergreen Way. In August, the library had a presence at the back-to-school orientations for all three grades.

In recent years, as schools have started their own summer reading programs, the Everett library had made sure its offerings are complementary. That makes it simple for kids and parents who might want to do both programs, Director Eileen Simmons said. Library staff attend school events throughout the city. They also plan visits to promote summer reading before kids go on break.

“That’s wonderful when we can get that kind of cross-pollination,” Simmons said.

Boggs’ ice cream program started in September, which was national Library Card Sign-up Month. She now has extended it through October. She will keep dropping by English classes to make her pitch.

Boggs estimates she’s given out about 120 ice cream bars so far. She is hoping that number will grow: Evergreen Middle has more than 1,000 students.

Rikki King: 425-339-3449; rking@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @rikkiking.