By Dr. Ferrell Miller
JC Breakfast Optimist Club
Carol Settgast, retired teacher and librarian at Sheridan Elementary School in USD 475 Geary County Schools, was the guest speaker at the JC Breakfast Optimist Club meeting on February 25 in the Hampton Inn Meeting Room. In 2010, Carol applied for and received a Fulbright Award led by the Kansas State University and Ethiopia Reads to learn about the cultures of Ethiopia to share those cultures with her students upon return. .
A partnership developed from that trip with “Jane Kurtz, who was a co-founder of Ethiopia Reads. The non-profit group focuses on children’s reading by strengthening early education ecosystem across the country through teacher/librarian professional development, mother-tongue resources, literacy advocacy, and family literacy events. Eighty libraries have been planted in every region of that country. Even in places where there are no roads a teacher is deployed on a horse or carts pulled by donkeys are used to bring reading materials to children who have never held a book”, Carol said.
Ethiopia has almost no books for children in Ethiopian languages (beyond textbooks). Ready-Set-Go books are printed by Open Hearts Big Dreams in dual languages of English and mother tongue languages. Sheridan Elementary students had two different opportunities to be involved in writing, illustrating books which were published and shared with Ethiopian children. The most recent book was about the migration of Painted Lady Butterflies in Ethiopia, which was a project completed in 2021.
“This is a trainer of trainer’s model, in which librarians, teachers, and administrators are nurtured with professional development seminars that promote sustainability”, Mrs. Settgast stated. Carol will be returning to Ethiopia soon to attend the 6th Annual Children’s Reading Summit sponsored by Ethiopia Reads promoting literacy initiatives, encouraging the love of reading, and creating a culture of reading among families and education systems. “Those who read, bloom!”
The video of Carol’s entire presentation can be viewed on the JC Breakfast Optimist Club Facebook Page or on Youtube.