(upbeat music) (popping graphics) - Hello and welcome to "The Journal."

I'm Steve Kendall.

1BookBG returns to Bowling Green this year with the theme, Out Of This World Pioneers.

We're joined by Stacey Higgins from Bowling Green City Schools, Michelle Rogers from the St. Aloysius School here in Bowling Green, and Maria Simon from the Wood County District Public Library.

Thank you all for being here again this year.

Stacey, talk a little about last year's program.

Because we had you folks on.

And obviously, extremely successful, the program has been every year.

But last year, I think you really felt it got back into full swing after the pandemic.

- Oh, definitely.

Last year was a complete rejuvenation of our 1BookBG program.

It was the first time that we had used nonfiction text with our students, and also had a variety of titles.

We decided to go with more of an author study, and so we had the amazing Jerry Pallotta come in, thanks to our partner at the Wood County Library.

And he came in and did visits with all of the children in Bowling Green.

And the students were just so very excited to learn about him and learn about his series, "Who Would Win."

- [Steve] Right.

- And we just had a wonderful experience and so we knew we wanted to build on that momentum this year.

- Yeah, and this year, as I mentioned, obviously in a timely way, it's tying in with the eclipse that's gonna be rolling through in early April.

So talk a little about this year's program which is Out Of This World Pioneers.

And eventually they're gonna be able to see that we have some of the books that are gonna be available for the students to use.

So talk about this year's program too.

- Of course.

So coming off of that excitement from last year, we started working very early this fall to determine, what could we do next?

And we loved the idea of incorporating nonfiction text.

And since Bowling Green is in the middle of the upcoming eclipse, as everyone's been aware, we wanted to build on the excitement for that as well.

So in speaking with Maria and understanding that In The Round program hosted here by the university was having an author come who has a biography on a space scientist, we said, "Let's go with this theme."

And we found the series "Who Was" or "Who Is" and "What Are" through Random House.

These are very popular with our students for biographies.

We selected some specific space scientists or topics that were pertinent to our cause and we are running with that theme for this year.

- Yeah, yeah, now, I know that one of the things too, and the program itself, in a nut, is across all the schools in Bowling Green.

About how many students are we talking?

About 15, is it 1,500-ish, is that the number?

- Yes.

Yes.

Between 1,500 and 2,000 students are affected through all our public and private buildings in Bowling Green, grades kindergarten through fifth grade.

We also have a little bit of programming for our preschools as well, especially through the opportunities that the library puts together.

So we are just super excited to get everyone involved in learning more about space, particularly since two of the space scientists are Ohioans themselves.

We're very excited to honor Neil Armstrong and then also John Glenn through our research that the students will be doing.

- Yeah, and you know, and those are gentlemen that we're very familiar with.

But for younger people, they didn't experience the actual events when John Glenn went into space for the first time and Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon.

So for them, it's a way to kind of bring those people alive for them in a way that makes it more than just reading something or seeing a picture of them, or hearing someone talk about, oh, the moon landing or John Glenn orbiting the Earth, that kind of thing.

And obviously the space scene, that's probably pretty evergreen for a lot of people too, because kids see a lot of space-related things.

And, of course, we just had something we put on the moon just a week or two ago.

So it's in the news as well.

You also too, I know, and feel free to jump in, you also involve not just the schools, but the community itself.

There's a lot of outreach there and you involve a lot of private businesses in this too.

They participate in all this also.

Talk a little bit about that.

- [Michelle] Okay, so we do involve the whole community.

We have different businesses.

We have others that are not businesses per se.

It's like stores but like the community center, the library, places like that.

And the students go there and they, we have posters set up and then when they stop in, they put a star on a constellation.

And then every week, one of the Mission Stops will have a little hidden scientist or astronaut, space explorer, and the students have to find the stop that has that, and then they get a really cool trading card.

It's like a baseball card.

And then the Mission Stops also support us financially with helping pay for the cost of the books and prices and stuff.

- [Steve] Sure, yeah because the books obviously are not inexpensive but they're, you know, they're reasonably priced, but it still is a cost.

What would each book basically cost?

What do you figure for per student, each book?

- [Stacey] It is basically about $3 per book, thankfully because we were able to work out an arrangement with Random House publishers.

They were incredibly generous with us this year, looking at the quantity of books that we were buying.

Originally, we had a much bigger picture for the number of diverse scientists we were hoping to incorporate.

But to get the bulk number of titles, we did have to limit that.

- [Steve] Narrow it down, yeah.

- Yes.

Very much.

So that's where this idea of picking five specific scientists who we would then honor as the Scientist of the Week per se.

And there's only 100 of these trading cards available at each Mission Stop, so we're hoping to make that a little bit of like a little exclusive opportunity.

And really being able to not only celebrate our Ohio scientists, but also recognize the diversity within our space scientists; women, people of color.

There's a wonderful array of scientists out there that have done some amazing things in space and we want to make sure our students are learning about them.

- [Steve] Yeah, because I know the author that's coming in and who's gonna be part of the In The Round series and she has written a biography and, if you look back, I know we had the movie, "Hidden Figures," this kind of shows us another version of people that were unfortunately kept behind the scenes during all of that.

So it's a good way for that to become known to people as well.

Now this event, what's the start date for this?

Because I know we're really close to it.

- [Stacey] Of course.

Yes.

Schools are kicking off on May 8th.

Oh sorry, March!

(laughing) Not May.

March 18th and 19th this year.

It depends, Bowling Green City Schools have a professional day on the 18th, so our privates will start on the 18th, and Bowling Green Schools will begin the 19th.

And this will continue through April 26th.

- Now, Michelle, can people still become Mission Stops?

Or is that window kind of closed now?

Because we're coming right up on the start.

- [Maria] Yeah.

- [Michelle] Yeah.

- [Stacey] They cannot become Mission Stops but we are certainly continuing to look for support, both in terms of financial and incentives for our students.

That is always welcome.

- [Steve] Yeah, now, when you look, and I know we talked about this last year too, when you guys get together to look at this particular topic or a topic, so you're probably, I know as soon as you finish this year, you're gonna start talking about next year.

Go through that process a little bit because obviously it's a big decision to make because you want to make something that is accessible and yet still has some impact because you want it to be deeper, wide and deep at the same time.

- [Maria] Right.

- [Steve] Yeah, yeah.

- [Maria] We're often looking at a book that, or a series of books or an author who has that wide appeal.

And these "Who Was," "Who Is" series written by a lot of different authors, but has a huge appeal to kids.

The books are pretty formatted.

The big bobblehead cover, character on the title or on the cover, sort of is iconic to this series.

And so there's a lot, a wide appeal.

It's interesting because this book, this choice, this selection needs to kind of appeal to kindergarten through fifth grade.

- [Steve] Right.

Right.

- And appeal to the families.

So there's, I love this program because it does affect so many people.

Because the one book given to a child is given to the whole family, is given to the grandparents, is given to the community.

So there can be just a lot of conversation about, you know, these people.

But then because this series is so popular, there's a lot of other biographies of other people who are alive, people who are not alive anymore, who've made impacts, and therefore we want people to come to the library and check out all the different "Who Was" and all kinds of different biographies.

- Okay, when we come back, we can talk more about that and some of the other, because obviously we've skimmed the surface so far, but there's a lot more to talk about.

Back in just a moment here on "The Journal."

Thank you for staying with us here on "The Journal."

Our guests are Stacey Higgins from Bowling Green City Schools, Michelle Rogers from the St. Aloysius School here in Bowling Green, and Maria Simon from the Wood County District Public Library.

And the reason they're all here is because we're talking about 1BookBG, which, Maria, is actually more than one book this year, which is just like- - [Maria] Wow, it's exciting.

- And I know we're looking at the array here and people will eventually see these.

And if you go to your website, you can get a lot more information about what these are and the whole idea.

But talk a little about the book selection because it's a range of things, it's different genres, but all within this concept of space pioneering.

- [Maria] Right.

As we said, you know, it was so successful last year with a nonfiction book.

So we thought, well, let's, you know, stay with nonfiction again this year and use this series.

And so this series is just really exciting.

And there's both of, depending upon the child's age, you know, or grade, they'll get a different book.

And so a family that has more than one child in the schools will get more than one book.

So there's that kind of comparing and contrasting that can be done.

Some of the books are about a person, and then some of them are actually also nonfiction.

What is the solar, a solar eclipse?

Or what are the constellations?

So, and one of the selections this year is a graphic novel and those are very, very popular.

- [Steve] What's the content of the graphic novel?

What's the general- - It's about Neil Armstrong.

- [Steve] Neil Armstrong, okay.

- Yeah.

- [Steve] Oh, okay.

That would be interesting- - Yeah, yeah.

Those are very popular graphic novels.

- Yes.

Yeah.

- So to give a child one of these books could start a conversation in a family, oh, I want to learn more about Neil Armstrong.

Let's read other books about Neil Armstrong.

Or, maybe I really like graphic novels, let me go get some more graphic novels.

So it's all in the spirit of getting kids to read more and to talk more about this subject with their families and with their community, so.

- [Steve] Now when you talk about a graphic novel, I know that probably a lot of people know what it is, but is that a genre that's relatively recent?

Because I, what would they have been called 40 years ago?

- [Maria] Well, they could have been called comics.

- Comics.

Okay, all right.

Or they could have been called, you know, just a book with a lot of pictures, heavily illustrated.

But usually graphic novels have sort of like the panels and then maybe speech bubbles, that sort of thing.

But kids are very visual learners, as we know, from like a lot of like watching television, you know, all the images that we see every day.

They really, really tune in visual- - [Steve] Well, and it's a way to get them to begin reading in a way that they might not even know that they're, they don't see it as reading, they see it as looking at the visuals, but also getting that.

And we all know that obviously reading, as we've talked about before, is such a key to everything else when it comes to learning.

And it's an area that, you know, we're gonna have to pick up little ground again because things, as all things happen during that and every part of our lives, we fell a little bit behind with regard to all of those things.

So this is a way to get people recharged.

And you said not just the children but the whole family.

- [Maria] Oh yeah.

- And if it's multiple kids, multiple books with multiple approaches to this, so its, yeah, it reaches out there in a lot of ways.

- [Maria] One of the titles is "Who Was Sally Ride?"

And so there will be people who are old enough to remember, you know, when Sally Ride was alive, and then what her story is now and what, who she was.

So, and then who was Galileo?

We don't have anybody who's gonna remember- - [Steve] Remember that- - Galileo- - [Steve] Not personally anyway- - Right, right.

But it's interesting, isn't it?

And then, "What is NASA?"

You know, there's just a wide variety of titles, but all about space, and so- - [Steve] Yeah, and I think the nice thing about these are too that, as you said, it brings things back in front of people.

Because in a way, if you guys remember too, during the space shuttle series, after a while, people got sort of nonchalant about it.

Well, it happened even during Apollo.

Oh, another moonshot.

- [Maria] Right.

- Oh boy.

Whoopee, big deal.

But this brings stuff back.

Because we take for granted everybody knows what NASA is, or who Sally Ride was, or even Neil Armstrong.

- [Maria] Right.

Or what is a solar eclipse.

- Or what is, yeah, what is a solar eclipse.

Yeah, we assume everybody sort of knows that.

But especially for children, it brings it to them, brings it to life for them in a way that approaches them and hopefully, as you said, incense them or intrigues them to do more, to explore more.

- [Maria] Ask more questions.

- Yeah, yeah.

And I know, as teachers, you guys, that's what you try to do every day with everything you do, is to get kids to think and move forward.

So this has to be a real benefit for you guys, be able to approach students, give them an alternative that may not seem like homework, I guess.

Not that we want to make it sound like homework's a bad thing but, yeah.

So when you start to do this with the children, are you ever surprised by their reactions that they have?

- [Michelle] Yeah, I mean it's interesting especially now that we've, you know, last year, we transitioned from one book per family, or everybody in the city reading the same book, transitioning to a variety of books.

The kids would talk amongst themselves and just the excitement.

Well, I read this one, I read that one.

And then the other thing that we do too is instead of trivia questions, we do a Teach Me Tuesday, Tell Me Thursday.

And then, they're open-ended questions, like, what did you learn about this scientist?

Or, how would you feel if you were this person?

So there's very open-ended.

So they read it and then there's a variety of responses.

So as long as they are responding to the questions, then they have a chance to win a prize.

So it's an incentive to read the book, but yet it's thought-provoking questions for them.

- Well, that's interesting because it isn't just read it and then play back to me what you've read or what you've learned.

It actually is almost like a critical thinking.

They start to imagine themselves on how they would, as you said, how would you feel, how would you think about that?

What did you take away from that?

So, yeah, as opposed to a yes/no, black and white kind of thing, it's more of a, they can kind of go with it.

And again, it's another learning experience for that.

- [Maria] Right, and for a lot of students, especially the younger ones, this may be an introduction to a biography and learning from someone else.

Someone that isn't your teacher or someone that isn't your parent or your grandparent or your neighbor, but somebody who lived in history and has something to teach you.

Because children's biographies are just fabulous for generally written a lot about the subject's childhood.

And so the child can really relate to the subject and then take from that subject, you know, some meaningful, you know, experiences that would inspire them.

Maybe to be an astronaut, but maybe to be just their own person, you know?

So, yeah, it's interesting to bring biographies to children.

- Yeah, and as you said, it kind of makes them, puts them in the place of that person.

They can start to think about their reactions, how they would learn, what they would learn, what they would be interested in.

And just the idea too of bringing that character back to life and putting it into context that they can relate to.

- [Maria] Right.

- Because you can read really dry biographies and then you can read ones that are really entertaining.

- [Maria] And I would really recommend that people read children's biographies.

I mean (panelists laughing) biographies for children because they are really well-written and it's interesting to hear a lot more about the person as a child, so.

- [Stacey] Well there's- - [Steve] Well now- Oh, go ahead.

- [Stacey] It's okay.

As Michelle was saying, we have the questions that the students can answer.

Something else we're trying new this year is an online option using the Flipgrid format.

So students will be able to make their own little mini videos, very similar, you know, everyone's TikTok and reels and things like that.

The students have, it's a closed system, so it's certainly not out into the world that they would be sharing these.

But their parents can access the website or scan a QR code and the student can then talk about the book or the person or the topic.

And then those can be viewed by the other students within our system, within the city of Bowling Green, to help teach each other about what they're learning.

So just trying to find new ways to help the families engage with the book and engage with each other and find new things they want to learn about, is a great opportunity, we think.

- Good.

Well, we can come back.

We've got some more things to talk about.

Back in a moment on "The Journal" here with 1BookBG.

You're with us on "The Journal" and we're talking about 1BookBG, which is more than one book and more than just one single element.

One of the things that we touched on earlier, and we'll come back to it now, is the fact that this isn't just a school-related thing.

This is a community-wide operation, a community-wide initiative.

So Stacey, talk a little bit about the community involvement.

We touched on it earlier but it's a really important part of this.

And obviously, the more people involved, the better.

- [Stacey] It is.

Michelle had mentioned we use Mission Stops, which with our theme this year is especially appropriate, talking about the students heading off onto missions in our community.

This year, we have more Mission Stops than we ever have had before.

And we've also have branched out, not just always being shops or restaurants, we're including Bowling Green Manor this year, an assisted living and nursing home community.

And I think they're very excited to have the sign there on the porch where many of their residents congregate and having some interactions with students that way.

We are very excited to involve our community center.

We do not have the Ice Arena this year because of their construction, but we're always looking for ways that the businesses can be more involved with our schools.

That is such an important part.

They have also been very financially generous, but as we look ahead, we have this year's books covered but we're starting to plan ahead for next year.

And we work very closely with Marie at the library and trying to see how we can build on that partnership with the types of authors and series that they are focusing upon.

- [Maria] It is fun to see what kids are reading, what they're excited about.

Maybe it would be a graphic novel, you know?

Or a graphic novel character or something like that.

So, who knows?

Stay tuned, right?

- [Steve] Yeah.

Well, and I think, you know, the incentive, I think too, obviously for the publishing companies, they want people to read books, they want people to learn, they want to incent people and get people interested in reading beyond this.

It gets people started and all.

Then, as you said, the students will look at other books, other areas, other things that maybe they didn't even know they were interested until they looked at one of these books.

Yeah, Michelle, talk a little bit about, I know we talked about community but obviously you guys are focused on reaching a wide range of students.

And we talked about this a little bit too that you've got one book that will be addressed maybe for the younger part of the K through five, and pre-K through five.

But talk a little about how you make that selection work.

Because it's gotta be a little tricky to make sure you find something that addresses... because kids change so fast now that what maybe a third grader would have been last year, well, they're now looking at it, this is how we need to approach them this year.

And that's always a challenge for you guys as teachers anyway, but this brings it really focused.

- Well, that was the challenge when we truly were just one book across BG, you know.

But, you know, having the variety of books is great and, you know, sometimes you can look at what would interest that age level.

You know, like maybe landing on the moon might be more appropriate for little kids because it's like something new.

Whereas the more scientific ones would be more appropriate for the older kids because they do talk about some of that, and exploring and stuff like that.

And it's just really nice having the variety of books, that within the family- - [Steve] Yes.

- The kids can talk to each other.

And I will say after experiencing last year, these kids just go crazy once they've read a series.

They're just like, they want more, they want more, they want more.

And I'm sure you see that at the library too.

I mean I'm sure that after 1BookBG, the book sales and the visits at the library are just going to accelerate after these kids read this because they're so excited about them.

- [Steve] Yeah, and I know, Stacey, you mentioned the funding and things like that.

You do have now with the foundation.

- [Stacey] Yes.

- That handles now the... Obviously even though this is a creative and immersive experience, it always does come down to, there has to be some structure, there has to be some bureaucracy.

- There does, you know.

The book companies don't give us these books, by any means.

That would be wonderful if they did, but they've gotta take care of their authors too.

So we have now partnered with the Bowling Green Schools Foundation as the fiscal agent.

It just became something that one district wasn't able to necessarily handle as easily.

Also the bureaucracy involved with trying to work within a school system and in its state laws versus a nonprofit foundation.

And so we're able to move much more quickly and easily when we're trying to make these purchases.

So anyone that would want to donate, we are able to accept both check, cash.

We use PayPal through the Bowling Green School's Foundation website.

And we will be talking at their upcoming event.

They have their trivia night fundraiser, Friday evening, March 8th.

And there will be a special little time where 1BookBG will be highlighted as one of the many things the foundation does for Bowling Green community.

Not just our public schools, but all the children.

And so that's a great way to make sure we can continue this going.

Our partnership with the library is a great starting point and helps us choose the authors and series we're able to focus on, and then we then have to put it into action.

- Yeah, and I think the other thing, you know, you talk about that, people can then, you know, rest assured that any money, that any support they would give, they know it's secure, it's taken care of.

Yeah because, you know, we always hear stories about, you know, funds that move around and disappear.

And it's never been the case with this program.

But the foundation, as you said too, are much more flexible.

Because state agencies, which is what school districts are, work under a huge number of restrictions from when it comes to fiscal, financial, fiduciary, all of that.

- [Stacey] Yes.

- [Steve] You can't be as nimble as you'd like to be and that allows you to do to be a 501(3)(c).

- [Stacey] Exactly.

- [Steve] Like the foundation.

- [Maria] And it's nice because it also helps us to seed the money for next year.

- [Steve] Yes.

- [Maria] Because we're always thinking about, like, keeping this going.

It gives the kids a lot of incentive to read and to learn and to have conversations about learning.

And we want to make sure that we're kind of positioned to keep this going.

This committee is us but it's also a lot of other wonderful teachers that are working really hard to make all these details happen.

And, yeah.

- Yeah, it's not... And we've joked, talked about this before, it's not something like, oh, next week let's do this.

Because sometimes people think, oh, this takes like a couple of days and you're done for the year.

Well talk about next year a little bit.

Who wants to jump in and talk about that?

- [Stacey] You just said it perfectly.

Even though this year does not even kick off for two more weeks, we're already in conversations about next year.

And this program is not just any one of the three of us.

None of the three of us were originally involved when it first started 10, 11 years ago.

But we now are taking care of things.

And our lovely Michelle is retiring this year, so we'll be replacing her from St. Aloysius- - [Steve] Oh, you'll just have to come back next year just to be on the show.

That's okay.

That's okay.

- [Stacey] Yes.

So we want the program to not just be a person, but to be an entity that can continue long past us.

So we're looking at what authors might be available.

The idea of doing an author study rather than maybe just a book series is something that we have talked about.

There are so many wonderful children's authors out there.

- [Steve] Sure.

- We love our partnership with In The Round and WBGU that we've been able to develop this year.

Our library partnership.

Perhaps, you know, NASA Museum would be a place we can connect with in the future because they certainly have those book author connections.

We love to have the interaction with students, with authors, but that's not something financially able or even responsible to try and do every year for us.

- Yeah because they, as you said, authors need to make a living and they get royalty.

So that's why the books aren't free and that sort of thing because that's how they make their living.

So they can write more books that you can then have kids look at and read.

We've got just a moment.

So if people want to find out more, if they have any questions, what's the simplest way for them to find out to do that?

- [Stacey] The simplest way is actually to get on our social media.

So through both Facebook and Instagram, we have 1BookBG pages.

Through the Bowling Green Schools Foundation website, you can find out more about ways to contribute.

The library has some excellent resources already put together for families to come in and see some special events that will also be happening during our spring breaks.

- [Steve] Ah, okay.

- So that will keep this program going then.

- [Steve] Okay, great.

Well thank you so much again.

And thank you so much for doing this every year.

And I say, Michelle, you will have to come back and be on the show whether you're, even in retirement.

But congratulations on that.

Yeah and we'll, again, anytime we can help you out, please feel free to talk to us.

We love it, it's a great thing, and obviously getting kids to read and under any circumstances is always a good thing.

So we appreciate it much.

Good, good.

You can check us out at WBGU.org.

You can watch us every Thursday night, WBGU-PBS at 8:00 PM.

We will see you again next time on "The Journal."

Goodnight and good luck.

(upbeat music)