Families Donate Books to Cyesis Program

Families from are donating more than 1,000 books to the Cyesis teen parent program at .

Cyesis is a dropout prevention program based at Riverview. According to the district, it is designed to meet the specific educational and social needs of pregnant and parenting students to increase the likelihood that they will earn a high school diploma or equivalent.

Representatives of the Tatum Ridge Parent Teacher Organization and the school’s staff will present the books to Riverview Principal Linda Nook at RHS at 9:30 a.m., Monday, Nov. 21.

The books are designed to encourage reading among all members of the Cyesis family, which currently includes 60 students and 43 babies. The donations consist of children's picture books and storybooks, youth chapter books, and adult fiction and non-fiction, the news release said.

This year’s drive, like the previous one, was organized because teen parents in the Cyesis Program often lack funds to buy books for their home due to financial challenges, the district said.  

“Mothers of our elementary students volunteered their time to organize a drive to collect gently used books for the young parents and their children in the Cyesis Program,” said Tatum Ridge Principal Wendy Katz in a news release. “Our parents know it’s important for moms and dads to read to their children from the time they are babies, and they want to reinforce that message with these books.”

Nook said she and the staff at Riverview appreciate that Tatum Ridge Elementary and its families reached out to the Cyesis program. “Our friends at Tatum Ridge understand that reading is the foundation of a lifelong love of learning,” Nook said in the release. “We are so grateful for these donations; they will make a big difference in the lives of our Cyesis students and their children.”