The Ballard PTSA book club’s goal is, to quote the PTSA president, Becky Shumway, “to help every Bruin achieve their full potential by advocating for healthy and happy life choices”. The book previously read and discussed not only once, but twice due to positive feedback from its readers was “The Anxious Generation” by Jonathan Haidt. The novel is a New York Times Best Seller and about the decline in this generation’s mental health due to social media and overbearing parenting. Many students were able to relate and benefit from reading the book twice and were thankful they had a safe space to discuss their views on the novel.
The PTSA book club’s next novel is an international bestseller titled “Who Moved my Cheese?” by Spencer Johnson. The book is about four characters in a maze and their different reactions to change; altogether, the novel turns out to be a metaphor on how to cope with change. The book club will meet on Tuesday, Feb. 4th at 7:00pm in the Ballard library.
Along with their book club, PTSA organization has recently accomplished a teacher appreciation and gift card drive in December and a mental health/anti-vaping campaign in the Ballard restrooms. Their current projects are a parent-teacher chat podcast and a campaign to encourage kids to make healthy choices and be informed about their technology that will launch in March.