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Downers Grove Grade School District 58 is excited to announce that O’Neill Middle School has been awarded a $2,000 Feed Your Need Grant from the AISLE (Association of Illinois School Librarians)/LBSS (Library Book Selection Service) Endowment Fund. O’Neill is one of only 26 schools in Illinois to receive this competitive, statewide grant, which funds the purchase of books and e-books.
The grant will be used to expand O’Neill’s World Language library collection, supporting students in the Dual Language program, foreign language learners, and multilingual readers. With O’Neill’s diverse student population continuing to grow, the funding will help provide books in multiple languages, fostering literacy, celebrating cultural identities, and promoting a love of reading.
Librarian Tasha Squires shared, “Each year we have students who come to the middle school who speak and read languages other than English. In the last two years, we’ve had students who read Mongolian, Farsi, Traditional Chinese, French, Uzbek, Ukrainian, and Spanish. The more books I have in students’ native languages, the more I can support their learning overall.”
Principal Lauryn Humpris added, “We are grateful to Mrs. Squires for applying for this grant. It allows our library to provide more inclusive and curriculum-aligned materials that reflect the evolving language needs of our students.”
Learn more about the Feed Your Need Grant and the LBSS Endowment Fund at lbssfund.org.