Shutting her car door, Anna Matthews, sophomore, struts into Wilson Elementary School’s front office with excitement. For Matthews, there is a reward of a smile on her face after reading to the local MTSD elementary school children in the popular new club, Reading Buddies. The secretary at Wilson gives her a smile, recognizing her from prior weeks. She signs herself in as she plants the visitor badge on her flannel.

Matthews approaches Room 28, making sure she gets to the room at 3 p.m. Cracking open the door, she quietly slides into the room filled with little smiles. Opening up her book as she sits down, she begins to do her most favorite thing of the day: read to the children.

Once the books are read, the kids ask a collective number of questions to Matthews. “There’s always new kids to meet and new questions that they ask about the books and the life of a high schooler. It’s always so fun.”

Reading Buddies was originally created by alumna, Maggie Wigdale, with the help of Mrs. Molly Navarre, Homestead counselor, last year.

This year, Mrs. Navarre approached Sydney Crivello, Stephanie Metzendorf and Carly Rubin, to become the new senior leaders of the club.

Metzendorf agreed to help because she loved the club so much last year, and she felt it needed to be a tradition at Homestead. Although the club has a happy outcome, the steps approaching the Reading Buddies date can be challenging, especially on the senior leaders. “You have to make sure all the teachers are prepared for the students to come, make sure you fill all the reading spots, get people to come to the meetings and you especially have to make sure everyone follows through with their commitments, which can be tough,” Metzendorf said.

Students who join Reading Buddies are able to pick the dates they want to read to the students, making the club very flexible. The interaction with the kids can really help the high schoolers with public speaking and future professions.

The high school students who join this club generally like interacting with younger children. The children always seem to burst with excitement when a Reading Buddy walks through the classroom door. “I love children, so getting to be with them is super fun. All the kids are so nice and get so excited to see the readers. It’s so nice to see how happy they are to see me!” Crivello said.

For Matthews, Reading Buddies is an introduction to what she really wants to be doing, teaching kids.  “I joined Reading Buddies because I’ve always had an interest in working with kids. Ever since I was a babysitter I knew I wanted a job where I’d be surrounded by kids. Reading Buddies is just like that,” Matthews said.

Reading Buddies also helps strengthens the relationship with the different MTSD grade levels. “I think it’s a really great way to help impact the community by reading to younger kids. It helps to better unite grade school children with high schoolers which isn’t something I see happening regularly,” Crivello said.