Roll Tide for Reading advocates for children’s literacy in Tuscaloosa

The 2024-25 academic year has been a busy one for Roll Tide for Reading (RTFR). What started about three years ago as a single literacy project has grown into a student organization of about 90 active members who are passionate about promoting children’s literacy throughout the Tuscaloosa community.

The student group began with 10 or so members who, under the direction of Professor of Literacy Education Dr. Carol Donovan and former UA Assistant Professor of Early Literacy Dr. Lori Bruner, came together for a collaborative project with the Alabama chapter of Reach Out and Read, a nonprofit that supports literacy in young children by incorporating books into pediatric care visits. UA students visited the University Medical Center, where they spent time reading aloud to children and playing literacy games in the pediatric waiting room.

Since then, the successful project has expanded and taken on the name Roll Tide for Reading with Assistant Professor of Literacy Education Dr. Brittany Adams and Clinical Assistant Professor of Elementary Literacy Dr. Cortney Dilgard joining Dr. Donovan as the organization’s faculty co-advisors.

After a little rebranding and its involvement in Get On Board Day recently, Roll Tide for Reading has seen an increase in student interest, and its mission and dedication to Tuscaloosa’s youngest learners remains the same.

“Our goal,” Adams said, “is to foster a love of reading in young children while offering students who have an interface with children or their caregivers the hands-on opportunities to develop the needed skills, whether it’s for outreach or teaching.”

RTFR’s literacy projects and volunteer opportunities have grown as the student organization has, presenting students with even more ways to give back to the community while promoting lifelong learning and the importance of literacy at an early age.

“We provide direct experiences for students of all majors to engage directly with children, parents and educators, both in educational and community-based settings,” Adams said.

Students regularly volunteer around the Tuscaloosa community, including the UA RISE Center, the Tuscaloosa Public Library, in the United Way of West Alabama’s Success by 6 initiative and continue to read to children at the University Medical Center.

They also work with local elementary schools, such as assisting with the after-school program at the Alberta School for Performing Arts, which Adams said has been valuable exposure, especially for elementary education majors. Each time students volunteer at Alberta, she said, they are placed in different classrooms. This allows them to work with children ranging from kindergarteners to fifth and sixth graders, assisting them with varying assignments, like reading or homework.

Experiences like these are particularly beneficial for those undergraduates within the teacher education program. They not only give students taking their general courses a chance to feel more connected to their major, Adams said, but provide them with firsthand experience managing young students prior to their internships and teaching placements.

“That is something that’s emerged from this that has been extremely meaningful for me as an educator and when thinking about the long-term success of our undergraduates,” she said.

In addition to volunteering at early learning and literacy events for local elementary-age students, members dedicate their time to in a variety of other ways, such as hosting fundraisers and distributing snack and literacy kits to Tuscaloosa students in need.

Last semester, students created no-sew reading rugs for children at an area daycare center and collected more than $1,000 worth of shelf-stable snack items to make snack kits for local elementary students experiencing food insecurity. Most recently, to commemorate Read Across America, students read Dr. Seuss stories aloud to children at the RISE Center, and soon, RTFR will be ready to distribute the items and backpacks collected from Operation Backpack, its latest fundraising event.

The Operation Backpack school supply fundraiser was so popular that RTFR members want to keep it going: They plan on setting up tables outside some of the campus dorms so they can collect students’ unused school supply items as they move out at the end of the semester.

A couple of colorful Free Little Library book-sharing boxes should be popping up in town soon, Adams said, thanks to a collaboration with Fayard Family Endowed Chair of Literacy Dr. Amy Hutchison‘s Digital, Computational, and Data (D.CoaD) Literacies Lab. If you are interested in helping decorate or paint a mini library, please email Dr. Adams at bmadams8@ua.edu.

Be sure to keep an eye out for even more RTFR events or fundraisers as members will be helping out with West Alabama Literacy Night and more in the fall!

“By fostering literacy, I think we set children up for success both in school and beyond,” Adams said. “Many families in this area do lack access to books or literacy support, and I think Roll Tide for Reading is helping bridge that gap by bringing books, by storytelling, by offering literacy engagement activities directly to children.

“I think that also reflects the University’s commitment to service and outreach and to give students a chance to make a meaningful local impact.”

For more information on the student organization, visit the Roll Tide for Reading Facebook page.

For anyone interested in volunteer opportunities: