Viraat Das may not have won the Monongalia County Spelling Bee on that sunny March afternoon more than a decade ago — but he was most definitely a fan favorite.
Viraat leveled a lexicon of multisyllabic, and even obscure, words on his way to the final rounds.
The elementary school student held the audience spellbound because at the time, he and his family had only been in the U.S. and West Virginia for six months.
His parents relocated to the University City for jobs, and before that jaunt across an ocean, Viraat had exclusively spoken Hindi at home and with his classmates and playmates.
On this day, he was spelling in a second language.
Which makes that Innovative Reading Grant awarded this week to Charlotte Chung by the American Association of School Librarians all the more significant, all these years later.
As home to an internationally known research university, not to mention a medical hub recognized for the same, Morgantown is a pocket of diversity in a state not necessarily known for it.
That includes Monongalia County’s school district.
To date, there are 54 native languages being spoken in Mon’s school, with some 60 countries represented.
Chung is a media specialist at Suncrest Elementary School, and she’s using her $2,500 outlay from the Chicago-based organization to celebrate that diversity — as only a person who does what she does for a living can.
The Innovating Reading grant recipient will purchase books in students’ first languages, which she’ll make available both at Suncrest Elementary, and then through the county’s Interlibrary loan system.
She says it will be a page-turner: A story of intellectual pursuit, with a subplot of cultural awareness stirred in.
“By providing books in first languages, we as school librarians can help to support the literacy and educational goals of all of our students,” Chung said.
Kathy Lester, the national president of the association, is already pronouncing Chung’s project a best-seller.
“Her recognition that an inclusive collection is essential for an equitable learning experience is at the core of what school libraries do for every learner,” Lester said.
“To take this grant and extend to the families and other students in the county advances and highlights the value of a school librarian as a leader in the community.”
Chung and the other winners will be recognized at the association’s national conference Oct. 19-21 in Tampa, Fla.
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