Media Center at Northwest Middle Receives $7,000 Grant from Laura Bush Foundation for America's Libraries

Ronetta Snyder

Northwest Middle School has received a $7,000 grant from the Laura Bush Foundation for America’s Libraries.

“I am so excited to report that Northwest Middle School's Media Center received a $7,000 grant from the Laura Bush Foundation for the 2017-2018 school year,” said Ronetta Snyder, the Media Center Coordinator at Northwest.

“This grant will enable the media center to purchase reference materials, books for high interest/struggling readers, books in Spanish and English, sports books, and graphic literature.”

The grant is part of more than $930,000 being distributed to 160 school libraries in 38 states for 2017.  

“Congratulations to the schools and libraries that have been awarded a 2017 Laura Bush Foundation for America’s Libraries grant!” said Laura Bush said in a press release. “As a former librarian, I know school libraries play an important role in improving student achievement, and with this grant, your librarian will make your library the perfect place for students to fall in love with reading.”

Bush, who was one of the founders of the Texas Book Festival, announced the 2017 grant recipients while participating in the Texas Book Festival’s Reading Rock Stars literacy program.

At the program, Bush read to students and talked about the importance of reading to a child’s success, both in and out of the classroom, and encouraged students to continue to read during the summer months.

“During the summer months to come, I encourage every student to read something every day and for our younger children, to read aloud, too,” she said. “These simple steps will help students build reading skills and keep them ready for the next school year.”

This April, while in Africa, Mrs. Bush announced the first-ever international grants from the Laura Bush Foundation for America’s Libraries. Therisanyo School in Gaborone, Botswana and Ella Du Plessis High School in Windhoek, Namibia each received $2,500 towards their school libraries.

The Laura Bush Foundation for America’s Libraries provides grants of up to $7,000 to our country’s neediest schools so they can extend, update, and diversify the book and print collections in their libraries with the goal of encouraging students to develop a love of reading and learning.

Since its inception in 2002, it has awarded over $14.3 million to more than

2,700 schools across the country.

You will find more information about the grants at Laura Bush Foundation