Rudolfo Anaya Reading Challenge

SANTA ROSA — The third annual Rudolfo Anaya Reading challenge inspired Santa Rosa students to read over 800 books, with middle and high schoolers creating 70 art projects. Santa Rosa High School students were challenged to read local author Maximiliano G. Tenorio’s “Too Far From Heaven” while middle and elementary students were challenged to read Southwest titles that featured Hispanic/Latino, Native American, cowboy, and other local themes. “It is great when students get excited about reading which can be rare these days,” said Darrel Gomez, Santa Rosa Middle School English Language Arts teacher. “The Rudolfo Anaya Reading Challenge allowed our students to read and learn about Hispanic and Native culture. This project was an effective way to get the students to learn about an author who has ties to the community.” The challenge ran for a month and ended on Oct. 30, on” Rudolfo Anaya I Love To Read Day,” which was passed into law by the state Senate in 2019 as a day dedicated to the celebration of Anaya’s legacy of promoting youth literacy in New Mexico. Over the last three years, students in the Santa Rosa Consolidated School district have read 2,137 books for this challenge.