{"id":107703,"date":"2021-08-14T13:36:31","date_gmt":"2021-08-14T17:36:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=107703"},"modified":"2021-08-14T13:36:31","modified_gmt":"2021-08-14T17:36:31","slug":"lehigh-valley-charter-high-school-for-the-arts-black-student-union-dedicates-second-little-free-library","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=107703","title":{"rendered":"Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Arts Black Student Union dedicates second Little Free Library"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div dir=\"auto\">\n<div dir=\"auto\">BETHLEHEM, PA&#8212;- This\u00a0week, members of the Lehigh\u00a0Valley\u00a0Charter High School for the Arts (Charter Arts) Black Student Union (BSU) held a dedication ceremony for its second Little Free Library installation, located in Allentown. The first library was dedicated and installed on the Charter Arts campus in June, and has been successful in engaging young readers from the Southside community.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The Little Free Library book-sharing movement fosters &#8220;Building Community, Inspiring Readers, and Expanding Book Access for All&#8221;.\u00a0<span style=\"color: #000000;\">Book sharing for these libraries is simple- anyone may take or share a book. Also, anyone can place books in the library if they\u00a0would like to donate to the\u00a0initiative. Charter Arts&#8217; BSU selected this project due to library closures that took place during the Covid pandemic, and their interest and research into understanding geographic book deserts that exist in some cities.<\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The Black Student Union raised more than $1100 to fund this project through proceeds from its\u00a0<i>&#8220;Black History- Then, Now, and Black Joy&#8221;<\/i>\u00a0show held in February. A portion of the\u00a0proceeds have gone toward the purchase of 60 books to help stock the libraries.<\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color: #000000;\">&#8220;We purchased books for a wide range of ages, from preschool through high school readers,&#8221; says BSU&#8217;s faculty advisor,\u00a0Jodi Fowler. &#8220;The focus for the books was to ensure diversity so that all readers can find themselves represented in the libraries&#8217; book selection.&#8221;<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<div>BSU has also collected donated books from faculty and students and its members will continue to be\u00a0the stewards of the library, checking them bi-weekly to ensure they are well stocked.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>BSU President, Trinity Jefferson, shared: &#8220;Knowing that we have a permanent staple that has our name on it as the Black Student Union, that was just started last year, it shows how much resilience we have, how much strength we have, and how much hope we have to make the world a better place and to help children.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">\n<div><u>ABOUT THE LEHIGH\u00a0VALLEY\u00a0CHARTER HIGH SCHOOL FOR THE ARTS (Charter Arts):<br \/>\n<\/u><br \/>\nCharter Arts, opened in 2003,\u00a0 is an audition-based public charter school that provides a comprehensive curriculum for high school students, grades 9-12, who have a passion for the arts. \u00a0 Students major in one of seven artistic areas: dance, instrumental music, literary arts, production arts, theatre, visual arts, or vocal music.Charter Arts&#8217; rigorous curriculum fosters both academic and artistic excellence for its students. The school\u2019s impressive Future Ready PA Index ranking, Advanced Placement (AP) exam statistics, Keystone Exam statistics, SAT scores, prestigious artistic accolades, and graduation rate, are testaments to the outstanding education that Charter Arts provides.<\/p>\n<p>Charter Arts is proud to continue its legacy as one of the most respected high schools for the arts in the nation.\u00a0 Charter Arts was one of only 349 schools in the nation to be named a 2018 National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence by the U.S. Department of Education.\u00a0 In 2020, the school earned the Title I Distinguished School designation for the fourth year in a row, placing it in the top 5 % of all Title I high schools in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.\u00a0 Recently, Charter Arts was ranked as #1 Best Public High School Teachers in PA (out of 666) and #1 Best Charter High School in Pennsylvania on Niche&#8217;s 2021 Best Schools in America Rankings.\u00a0 The school is also one of only five high schools in the Lehigh\u00a0Valley\u00a0to make the Top 100 PA Schools list on U.S News &amp; World Report&#8217;s 2021 Rankings.<\/p>\n<p>Charter Arts is located at 321 East 3rd Street, Bethlehem PA 18015. For more information about the school, visit:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.charterarts.org\/\">www.CharterArts.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Information &amp; Image\u00a0Provided By:<br \/>\nAnn Gillette<br \/>\nManager of Public Relations and Media<br \/>\nLehigh Valley Charter High School for the Arts<br \/>\n321 East 3rd Street, Bethlehem, PA 18015<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.CharterArts.org\"><strong>www.CharterArts.org<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; BETHLEHEM, PA&#8212;- This\u00a0week, members of the Lehigh\u00a0Valley\u00a0Charter High School for the Arts (Charter Arts) Black Student Union (BSU) held a dedication ceremony for its second Little Free Library installation, &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=107703\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Arts Black Student Union dedicates second Little Free Library<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":107704,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[69,482],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-107703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-the-valley","category-press-release-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Black-Student-Union.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107703"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=107703"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107703\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/107704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=107703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=107703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=107703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}