The Ateneo Senior High School kicks off the year with its celebration of the National Book Week with the theme of  “Unlock the World Through Reading”  spearheaded by the Educational Media Center (EMC), highlighting various writing webinars, an online book fair, and the trivia night to be held on January 11-15, 2021. 

This annual event aims to help students to not just develop a love for books within themselves, but to also guide them in terms of literacy. This event can also assist students in increasing their creativity through writing and reading.

In an interview with the ASHS Librarian, Ms. Ally Laxamana, she mentioned how the pandemic has given rise to uncertainties, but according to her, there are methods to cope with that. 

“It is easy to feel overwhelmed, and it is no surprise that people are feeling increasingly anxious and stressed. However, there is a way for us to flourish during these challenging times,” said Ms. Laxamana. 

“People can find comfort in books. For a brief moment, books help us escape our current world and explore a new one,” she added. 

Given the online setting, there numerous events and contests were not able to be executed. As last year’s celebration was a “much successful one” as said by Ms. Laxamana, they had to dismiss some affairs because of its unattainability. 

From having the traditional annual opening day of everyone wearing book character costumes, the EMC and the book week’s committee had to think of ways on how the students can reminisce those moments as they have prepared something for Monday (January 11).

“It may not be as big as last year, but I am glad that we are still able to ensure that the love for reading can still be promoted to our students,” said Ms. Laxamana.

When asked about the difficulties faced by the committee during the planning process, one of their major issues is whether they can push through the celebration this year given the circumstances and also because of the fact that there are certain programs that cannot be done like last year.

Publication of promotional materials was also a challenge for them as they have to effectively use all modes of communication, so they implored the help of the class moderators to help in announcing the events and encourage the students to actively participate.

“Nevertheless, we pushed through because we know how important it is to instill in the students the love for reading and gaining literacy skills,” claimed Ms. Laxamana. 

This book week has a lot in store for Ateneans. First, the traditional book fair has now shifted online in partnership with National Bookstore. The ASHS community can enjoy a ₱50.00 discount for every ₱1000.00 purchase using the voucher code, ATENEOSHS2021, on NBS’ website: https://www.nationalbookstore.com/.

A trivia night is also open for all students, especially for bookworms. This will test their knowledge and expertise on popular books, manga, tv shows, movies, library facts, and even timely events. To join, fill up the form: http://bit.ly/nbwtnight. 

Lastly, the week-long webinar event consists of 6 webinars by different authors of diverse book genres,  namely non-fiction, picture books, zines, and graphic novels. 

“By inviting these authors, the EMC can increase the student’s interest in books, help them understand how they are produced, and boost the confidence of any aspiring writers in school,” said Ms. Laxamana. 

The schedule of the webinars throughout the week is as follows:

• How to Write Your Own Zines – January 11, 4:30 PM
  Maria Criselda Santos 

• How to Make Your Own Graphic Novel – January 11, 5:30 PM
  Cat Aquino 

• How to Start Your Own Book Blog – January 12, 4:30 PM
  Matt Calvin S. Dadivas, RPm

• Non-Fiction Writing – January 13, 4:30 PM
  Martin Villanueva

• Children’s Book Writing – January 14, 4:30 PM
  Lexie Yut

• Writing and Getting Published by Heights Ateneo – January 15, 11:00 AM
  Gewell Llorin

To be a part of these webinars, sign-up, and fill out the form: bit.ly/NBWWebinar. 

Ms. Laxamana also took the chance to thank the people who made this event possible. 

“All in all, it was a difficult planning process, but this would not have been made possible without the concerted efforts of several people. I would like to thank my co-members of the National Book Week Committee (Ms. Amber Morris Hao, Ms. Angela Esther G. Reyes, and Mr. Mark Norman S. Boquiren), the EMC Team (Jonathan B. Murial, Angela Marie S. Aguilar, Bryll N. Dela Vega, and Christopher M. De Luna), Aivann Romero and Shaunn Calaycay of the Pugad Literary Folio, and the ASHS A-Team,” she claimed.

For more details and information about the book week, visit Ateneo SHS Educational Media Center page on Facebook or bit.ly/ashsemc.

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Regina Elaine Vendivil