GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) - Thanks to a junior at Wood River Rural High School, every Wood River elementary student will receive a free book each month through the rest of the school year.
Jenna Rauert collected $4,500 in sponsorships to pay for the project, which was done through the Scholastic Book Club. Supporters paid $20 each to sponsor one student in kindergarten through fifth grade.
Rauert, 17, told The Grand Island Independent that she believes that reading is “such an important part of learning.”
Her volleyball coach, Nanci Martin, isn’t surprised that she took on the project.
“She’s a really good leader. She always makes good choices academically, socially, in every aspect,” Martin said.
Rauert, who’s a setter on the volleyball team, is “just a great kid” who’s “very bright, very determined” and “always willing to help others,” she said.
“She’s really good at making everyone on our team feel welcome,” Martin added. She always “includes everyone” in “whatever she’s doing.”
Martin, who is the instructional coach at Wood River Elementary, is a former fifth-grade teacher. She said kids always love getting books from Scholastic.
“It’s always fun when the book order would come in,” Martin said. But “it was always sad” to see some kids who, month after month, never got books.
Rauert’s project will take care of that.
She got the idea from one of her former elementary teachers, who did the same thing.
Rauert raised the money in two weeks. The first step was creating a flier, which she posted on walls and online.
She didn’t go door-to-door soliciting funds. Most of the support came online.
Many paid through an app called Venmo. Others paid with checks. Rauert’s mom helped with the project.
“I was overwhelmed by all of the support I received,” Rauert says in a video she created. “So many kind people offered to sponsor a student. Some even offered to support numerous students. Donations came from all kinds of generous people, including Wood River alumni, farmers, nurses, teachers, business owners, photographers, therapists, college students, bankers, parents, grandparents and friends.”
Many of those people know a student at Wood River Elementary.
When Rauert was an elementary student, she loved to read. She hopes that elementary students who receive books each month “will find their own love of reading as well,” she says in the video.
Students always may go to the library, but it’s “always more fun to have your own book,” Martin said.
Rauert is the daughter of Ron and Jodi Rauert. Ron works at Nova-Tech in Grand Island. Jodi, who’s a member of the Wood River Board of Education, works at First National Bank of Omaha in Grand Island. The family lives three miles south of Wood River.
Jenna has two older sisters - Jessica, 22, and Jocelyn, 20.
In addition to volleyball, Rauert also participates in basketball and track.
But her favorite sport is volleyball. She has always liked playing the sport with her sisters. When she was a freshman at Wood River, Jocelyn was a senior.
Rauert, a 4.0 student, is treasurer of Wood River’s National Honor Society chapter. She’s also involved in FBLA and FFA.
She recently became a Big Sister to a Wood River second-grade boy.
Wood River Superintendent Terry Zessin said Rauert is “just one of those special students that’s involved in everything.”
It’s no surprise that Rauert would take on the book project because of the type of person she is and the character she has, Zessin said.
“We’re just really proud to have Jenna part of our school,” he said. “And she’s just a great model for all of our students to follow.”
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