What’s on your Summer Reading List?

The school year has ended, but that doesn’t have to mean an end to good books! The BW English Department encourages students to enjoy reading this summer.

West Students Read More than Three Million Pages in 2025-2026

At the start of the 2025-2026 academic year, the BW English Department challenged the freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior classes to READ for pleasure reading during this school year.  How did they do?

Together, Belleville West students read 3,026,170 pages of pleasure reading in the 2025-2026 school year!  What does that mean?

If those pages were set out end-to-end, they would stretch 406 miles!  That’s all the way from Belleville to Tulsa, Oklahoma (via the interstate highway system)!

If you read one page per minute, it would take 2102 days (that’s almost six years) to read that many pages—without any breaks to eat or sleep!

If you had a penny for every for every page that Belleville West students read this year, you would have more than $30,261!

How did the classes stack up against each other?

The SENIOR CLASS finished the year with 605,395 pages of pleasure reading, with an average of 407 pages per senior in the fourth quarter.  These senior classes read the most pages per student:

Ms. Schaefer, fifth hour – 819 pages per student

Mr. Lodle, first hour – 722 pages per student

Dr. Brunner, fifth hour – 647 pages per student

Ms. Schaab, fifth hour – 643 pages per student

Mr. Armknecht, third hour – 582 pages per student

Ms. Schaefer, sixth hour – 560 pages per student

Ms. O’Malley, seventh hour – 543 pages per student

Mr. Lodle, second hour – 522 pages per student

The JUNIOR CLASS finished the year with 807,221 pages of pleasure reading, with an average of 570 pages per junior in the fourth quarter—their best number of the year.  These junior classes read the most pages per student:

Ms. Hodson, seventh hour – 1376 pages per student

Ms. Guebert, seventh hour – 1054 pages per student

Dr. Brunner, third hour – 892 pages per student

Mr. Schobert, first hour – 758 pages per student

Ms. Chalmers, first hour – 744 pages per student

Ms. Chalmers, fourth hour – 726 pages per student

Dr. Brunner, second hour – 694 pages per student

Mr. Schobert, sixth hour – 658 pages per student

Dr. Brunner, first hour – 626 pages per student

Mr. Schobert, third hour – 617 pages per student

Mr. Schobert, fifth hour – 610 pages per student

Mr. Garland, seventh hour – 547 pages per student

Mr. Schobert, second hour – 524 pages per student

The SOPHOMORE CLASS finished the year with 863,829 pages of pleasure reading, with an average of 500 pages per sophomore in the fourth quarter.  These sophomore classes read the most pages per student:

Ms. O’Malley, second hour – 1689 pages per student

Ms. Schloesser, sixth hour – 1129 pages per student

Ms. Hodson, first hour – 749 pages per student

Ms. Chalmers, seventh hour – 736 pages per student

Mr. Armknecht, seventh hour – 656 pages per student

Ms Schlich, fifth hour – 616 pages per student

Mr. Armknecht, fourth hour – 575 pages per student

Ms. Schlich, third hour – 572 pages per student

Ms. Hodson, third hour – 528 pages per student

The FRESHMAN CLASS finished the year with 749,725 pages of pleasure reading, with an average of 437 pages per freshman in the fourth quarter.  These freshman classes read the most pages per student:

Ms. Guebert, first hour – 1506 pages per student

Mrs. Story, seventh hour – 839 pages per student

Ms. Schaab, seventh hour – 643 pages per student

Mrs. Coyne, second hour – 589 pages per student

Mrs. Story, third hour – 556 pages per student

Mrs. Short, seventh hour – 528 pages per student

Mrs. Short, sixth hour – 489 pages per student

Mrs. Coyne, sixth hour – 458 pages per student

Mrs. Short, fourth hour – 443 pages per student

Congratulations to the sophomores class on reading the most pages this year!  Congratulations to the junior class on reading the most pages per student in the final quarter of the year!  For all Belleville West students, keep reading this summer.

Students Celebrate Reading in English Classes

On May 7, the Belleville West English Department hosted its annual Reading Celebration Day.  Students participated in book talks, book passes, and word games.  All students received books to take home for summer reading, and a dozen students won tablets in a prize drawing.