A quiet reading revolution is unfolding across Lakeridge Junior High, and it starts with a single book inside every student's backpack.
At the start of this school year, Lakeridge Junior High in Orem implemented a new "book in every backpack" requirement for all students to help build daily reading habits across the school.
Transforming Daily Reading Habits
"At the very beginning of the year, it was like a chore to read," Shay O'Day, Lakeridge literacy team chair said. "Now I don't have to even remind kids. I have a few kids that I have to remind them to put their books away. So it's like kind of the opposite of—they're starting to get lost in reading, which is a good thing."
Student achievement thrives on strong reading habits because literacy serves as the essential foundation for all learning across every academic discipline. When students build strong reading skills, they experience greater confidence and stronger performance across all subjects. Alpine School District proudly champions schools that go above and beyond to support student literacy and cultivate a rich culture of learning.
Finding Time to Read
Students take advantage of structured reading times during special advisory periods and utilize extra minutes at the end of class.
"We've already seen it as kids in classes, when there's like 10 minutes left, they're not jumping on their phone because we have the phones pouched," Principal Derek Elison said. "A lot of the kids now can take out a book and read, which was not the culture even last year."
To support the requirement, Lakeridge built strong community connections before the school year began.
"We do a partnership with Orem City Library," Elison said. "They came before the school started, and we had tons of parents that didn't have library cards."
Building Classroom Libraries and Mentorship
Over the summer, the literacy team gathered hundreds of titles to equip every advisory classroom with its own dedicated collection of English and Spanish books.
"Every classroom teacher with an advisory has a whole classroom set that was provided by the school," O'Day said. "If they don't have a personal reading book on them, they can't escape the opportunity to read."
Beyond independent reading, Lakeridge launched the "Lit" (Literature) Leopards program, where teachers across all subjects mentor students on specific books. Once students complete a book, they discuss it with a teacher to earn prizes from the school librarian.
Staff members also model positive habits by participating directly during designated advisory reading times.
"When we're asking the students in advisory to stop and read, the entire staff, teachers included, are stopping and reading as well, so we're like leading by example," O'Day said. "It's opened conversations about, like, what are the teachers reading that's interesting? People are just talking more about books together."
Connecting Beyond the Classroom
"It's just a great opportunity, the kids can see that it extends outside the school day," O'Day said. "It gives them more opportunity to connect with each other when it comes to what they're interested in through reading."
Many Alpine schools are participating in the statewide Read-A-Thon, another way to promote literacy, on Oct. 2. Lakeridge Junior High plans to have all students drop everything and read for a half hour for the event, while a select English language learner class will be bussed to the State Capitol to participate and read with Gov. Cox.