On Thursday morning, two buses pulled up to North Star Academy in Newark, New Jersey and opened their doors to let their passengers enter the school. Instead of elementary school students, volunteers from Barclays Capital poured out of the buses and walked into the building, ready to spend a morning reading with first-grade students and also surprise students with a donation of 2,000 new books: four books for each of the 250 students at North Star to take home, and 1,000 more books to fill the shelves of North Star’s library.

Barclays volunteers read with first-graders at North Star Academy. Each student took home four new books, courtesy of Barclays.

Inside the school, the Barclays team and our First Book team were invited to watch North Star kick off its day at Morning Circle. As soon as it began, we knew that we were in a one-of-a-kind school. Kindergarteners, first-graders, and second-graders took their places in the Circle, performed class chants, cheered about their love for reading and math, and answered quick quiz questions from their principal. The intellect and enthusiasm of the students blew us away, and the incredible devotion of the teachers and staff members was obvious. The North Star students already shine, and with Barclays generously providing more resources to these curious, motivated learners, their futures are brighter still.