The fourth annual Summer Reading Celebration took place at Rice Memorial High School on August 29th. While the forecast called for rain, nothing was going to stop the Green Knights’ summer reading fun.
Over the summer, students and staff read the book Everything Sad Is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri, an Iranian-American author, screenwriter, and publisher. The book is, according to Nayeri, an “autobiographical novel” about his family’s escape from Iran after his mother’s conversion to Christianity.
The day started out with Nayeri speaking to the student body in the newly renovated Bill Hammond Gymnasium. His talk focused on what stories are and how they can affect us by using his own book and his knowledge of stories as examples.
“If you remember anything I told you today, I hope you remember this. You are subject to the stories you tell yourself,” said Nayeri. “After all the very first stories you tell, the closest ones to your heart, the ones you repeat most often, are about you.”
After Nayeri concluded his address, the students broke out into workshops that would happen over three periods.
Some workshops were led by teachers, while others were led by guests, and one was even hosted by Nayeri himself. The workshops included international food tasting, memoir writing, making Orich bars, pursuit of truth, and a Community Art Project.
“It’s a great opportunity to stay inside on a nice rainy day and learn a little bit about the context of our summer reading,” said Mathieu Bergeron, a History teacher who, along with Devin Collins, the head of the History Department, lead a workshop on the Historical Context of Daniel’s Story.
Another workshop was called Dance “Steps of My Story” hosted by Aline Mukiza, a Burundi refugee and a parent from the class of 2028. Mukiza brought traditional dress from her home country to demonstrate to students how to participate in a traditional rhythmic Burundi dance.
“It wasn’t just fun to learn a new dance, but also learn a little bit about a whole other culture,” said junior Kizzie Carpenter. “The garments were beautiful and so was the dancing.”
Nayeri’s workshop taught participants about the hardest sentence to write, any sentence that pushes the story forward.
After the three workshop periods concluded, students alternated between lunch and going to see a magician, Giancarlo Bernini.
“The magician was really cool,” said senior Taylor Tritt. “I liked his performance. It was really interesting, and I really want to know how he did some of those tricks.”
During this time, Nayeri also signed books, making every autograph personal to each student.
After lunch, when the rain had finally cleared up, the school gathered outside to participate in the fair out on the science wing field. Outside the activities included an inflatable obstacle course, a velcro wall, and corn hole, along with the student-led games of soccer and frisbee.
During this time, students also prepared for the first annual school-wide capture the flag game. Organized by math teacher William Widen, the game had two teams: senior and freshmen vs. sophomore and junior. They competed over a 20-minute period to see which grade got the most flags.
The sophomores were the victors this year; however, the other grades are ready to take back the win next year.
To finish off the day, the students were given the choice between six flavors of Island Ice Cream.
“I really enjoyed watching students, not only have a lot of fun today, but also get academically engaged in all the different workshops,” said Principal Andrew Nagy. “I think the summer reading day is so important for our school, it brings the community get together.”
Special Thanks To:
Mr. Mazzella
Mrs. Hebert
Ms. Oldham
Mrs. Trono
Mrs. Shrestha
Ms. Stillman
Mrs. King
Mr. Widen.
Kenzie Ribera
Reese Billings
Kate Larkin
Will Cunningham
Mr. Nagy
Mr. Routhier
Mr. Mazzella
Mrs. Barron
Mr. Rushford
Mr. Townsend
This day would not have been possible without you!
Dr. Hawes • Sep 8, 2025 at 9:47 am
This is a fun article to read, with pictures well-integrated into the flow. Well done!