Lincoln-Way West Student Checks Out 1,000 Books From Library

NEW LENOX, IL — A senior at Lincoln-Way West High School reached a rare milestone during her final month before graduation when she checked out her 1,000th book from the school library. Raya Dunham has had a love of reading for as long as she can remember, but did not have a goal to check out 1,000 pieces of literature from the LWW library until a school librarian pointed out how close she was.

Librarian Jennifer Bromann-Bender noticed with just one month to go before graduation that Dunham only needed to check out 30 more items to get to 1,000 over her four years at the school. She had already tripled the school record for most items checked out by an individual student and said that at that point it would not even be a stretch for her to get to 1,000.

“I normally check out about 30 books per month, so it wasn’t really a ‘crunch time,’” Dunham said.

Dunham does not have a preferred genre, and it would certainly be too hard for her to pick a favorite book. She has covered every genre in the items she has checked out from the classics to fantasy.

“You can escape in books,” she said. “Reading can teach you life lessons that the outside world can’t.”

Her love of reading earned her Lincoln-Way West's first ever "Library Student of the Year" award.

“I have seen Raya inspire others to read and I witnessed her help other students with selecting books since she is well read in a variety of genres,” Bromann-Bender said. “I am proud to have known Raya and we will miss her dedication to books and the library, but she has left behind some followers who are striving to read as much as she has.”

Photo courtesy of Lincoln-Way Community High School District 210