As students have arrived on campus and classes have started, the annual back-to-school transition has begun. Sports, extra-curricular activities, and clubs are gearing up again, but with one new addition: The Book Club.
Last spring, the Tabor Track Team had six distance runners who trained together. Among these runners were Jenna Weyant (’15) and Madeleine Gregory (’16). One day, Kelli McSweeny, a track coach and English teacher at Tabor, brought up some reading suggestions. This led to multiple conversations regarding great books and authors. Conversations like these became a trend and eventually Weyant and Gregory started to think of the team as somewhat of a book club. After some discussion, the girls were inspired to actually make one.
Weyant and Gregory began making plans for a club and informed the Tabor community. The girls were excited to find that a variety of Tabor students and faculty love reading for pleasure and soon 25 people had signed up. Gregory reported that, “The club’s members range from math teachers to book enthusiasts to readers looking for suggestions.” Tabor’s Head of School John Quirk has added his name to the list of members as well.
Over the summer, the club members read The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks to discuss at the first meeting of the year. Gwen McCain (’15) read the book this summer and found it “relevant because the setting is similar to Tabor.” The club will meet on Sunday evenings when all boarders are on campus. The members plan to discuss books, movie adaptations, authors, and their general opinions about novels.
“It started as just a novel idea. Then the pages started turning and suddenly we had started a new chapter in our lives revolved around good people, good food, and most importantly good reads,” Weyant says of the success of the idea.
Weyant’s and Gregory’s initiative is a great example of leadership at Tabor. They hope to foster a love of reading within the community without using school-assigned books. Gregory shared, “We’re to remind ourselves, and everyone involved, how much fun reading can really be.”
By Julia O’Rourke
