Date: December 1, 2011
by: Rachel Brown Hackney | Managing Editor

Dr. Kathy Kourapis, child care director for the Cyesis program; Stephanie Wyles, PTO treasurer for Tatum Ridge Elementary; Nickie Wolf, Tatum Ridge PTO co-president; Becky Drum, assistant principal of Tatum Ridge Elementary; Erin Del Castillo, assistant principal of Riverview High School; and Jay Lorenz, dropout prevention coordinator for Riverview Hig

Zamari Williams shares her book with Stephanie Wyles, PTO treasurer at Tatum Ridge Elementary School.

Just in time for the holidays, representatives of the Tatum Ridge Elementary School Parent Teacher Organization visited the Cyesis teen parent program at Riverview High School, bearing lots of books.

Riverview Principal Linda Nook told the Pelican Press she had been expecting 1,000 volumes Nov. 21; instead, the group showed up with almost 1,400. “It was really a nice surprise.”

The plan, Nook said, was to give books to the teen parents to be used as gifts for their children on holidays, birthdays and other special occasions.

“It was very, very generous of Tatum Ridge to think of us,” Nook said. “There is such a correlation between young children who are read to and language development.”

The goal, she added, “is to try to build up those home libraries.”