Read. Please read. Read the book that your teacher assigned you for homework. Read the newspaper article about your favorite sports team. Read the comic book of your favorite superhero. Read the fan-fiction story about your favorite celebrity. Read the snapchat Buzzfeed articles, or if you don’t like that, read the Refinery29 section. Read the directions on how to build your newest contraption. I do not care what it is that you read, but please do it.

Trust me, as a high school student, I know that reading is not the coolest thing that everyone rants and raves over. It actually seems to have become the cool thing to not read, and I must admit, the amount of times I have heard people proudly announce that they “do not read” is immeasurable, and frankly quite upsetting. I believe that the beautiful act of delving into a good book is essential for developmental and intellectual growth. Where else can you easily learn a vast vocabulary, develop an immense creative side, and pick up a whirlwind of facts, all while enjoying a carefully planned out story line? You can easily learn grammar while reading a book. You can better your own writing skills by learning from others. You can even live in a new world for a while by feeling what a character feels in the story. Math teacher and avid reader Mr. Awais says that reading “takes me places that I would not be able to go on my own.”

Now, I am not saying that you have to read Leo Tolstoy’s one thousand and two hundred paged War and Peace, or Pat Conroy’s seven hundred paged The Prince of Tides, even though, having never read the former, I do recommend the latter. I am just saying read. If reading is something that is new to you and you do not know where to start, some other students and staff members have recommended, Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend by Matthew Dicks, and When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi. The Media Specialist, Mrs. Haake, recommends that High School students read List of Cages by Robin Roe, and The Serpent King by Jeff Zentner. She also recommends books for the Middle School students, such as, The Crossover by Kwame Alexander, and The Night Gardener by Jonathan Auxier. Whether it is one of these books, or another that you find while roaming the library, picking up a book is always a good idea. But reading it is an even better one.

Read something this month. Read at least one book. Read at least one article on snapchat a week. Read something. Set a goal for yourself, and see where it takes you.