By Heather Pascua and Glaiza Salanio

On Monday, January 22, the Ateneo Senior High School (ASHS) community, headed by the ASHS Educational Media Center (EMC) and some faculty members from the departments of Filipino, English, Social Sciences, Computer, and Research, commenced the celebration of National Book Week 2024 with the theme “Breaking Barriers: Igniting Breakthroughs.”

This annual event features and promotes different advocacies each year. This 2024,  it advocated for the responsible use of modern information technology while preserving Philippine tradition.

“For now, we are hoping to break barriers and ignite breakthroughs. We try to embrace the advantages of modern information technology or the digitization of our information resources, but also being responsible enough to uphold the roots of these information sources, which is the library,” stated EMC coordinator Ms. Ally Laxamana.

Engaging activities

Meanwhile, the ASHS community enjoyed a variety of activities such as “READy, set, dress: Go (as your literary lookalike),” where the ASHS community was invited to dress up as a book character and get a chance to win best in costume.

There was also a design-a-bookmark contest wherein the students had the opportunity to showcase their talent and creativity by designing a bookmark based on the given theme.

The other activities included a book recommendation wall, blind book date, film showing, #BookTok, Fully Booked fair, and a book donation drive.

Igniting breakthroughs

As the ASHS celebrated National Book Week, members of the community actively participated in the different prepared activities.

Students and even faculty members were seen dressed up as their chosen character for “READy, set, dress: Go” to welcome the week-long celebration.

“It was nice seeing people dress up as their favorite story characters. I was even able to talk and share a few laughs with people who I did not know just because of what we were wearing,” Santino Palma Gil, a grade 11 student who also participated in the dress-up activity, expressed.

“The National Book Week reminded me of how important books are, especially now that almost everything is done online and through social media,” he added.

The series of programs and activities held in line with the theme emphasized to the ASHS the importance of books.

The event also emphasized the necessity of breaking barriers in order to further cultivate and enrich our intellectual tradition.

“With the National Book Week, I was reminded that books are more than its pages and bigger than its covers,” Santino concluded.