A Civically Minded “Lightning Bolt”

When English major Avery Castellani ’24 enrolled in a human development course, her path at Washington College changed in a flash.

Avery Castellani ‘24 had a plan. Originally enrolled as an English major, she was sailing through her time at Washington College and enjoying the deep analysis her major demanded of her. A devoted reader, she assumed her chosen path aligned well with her love of books and evaluating their role and impact in society. Then, she took Bridget Bunten’s Children’s and Young Adult Literature course and everything changed.  

“It hit me like a lightning bolt,” said Castellani. “After that human development course, I felt such a deeper connection with my classmates and the campus as a whole. I wanted more and wished I could have done this from the start so I could be more involved in the campus and community. I felt like I made more of an impact in the community just through that one course.”

She found herself at a crossroads – now a junior, she had the urge to change her major.

“The world of human development made me happy in a way that I had not experienced before and I thought, why not pursue it?”

So, she made the switch. With the help and support of her professors, Castellani quickly immersed herself in education and human development courses and threw herself into projects centered around civic engagement and teaching young minds. But now, she had to scrap her senior thesis entirely and find a new one.

Luckily, one of her professors, Sara Clarke-De Reza, had the perfect opportunity. She needed some assistance with the Busload of Books research project.

Jumping in on that research has opened new doors for Castellani, now a senior readying herself for graduation in May. She decided to focus her Senior Capstone Experience (SCE) on the impact of the author/illustrator visits to Title 1 K-12 schools that the Busload project embarked on last summer. The research recently took her to the Eastern Educational Research Association (EERA) Conference in Clearwater, FL, where she presented some of her initial findings. Noting that one time literacy enrichment events are hard to measure in impact – it’s rare to be able to measure the same presentation in multiple schools – Castellani was able showcase the project’s unique research results. Over the year, the research team collected 11,000 surveys from over 5,000 students and teachers. Across all age groups and all three categories—reading, writing, and drawing—they found a statistically significant “assembly affect”, meaning bumps in engagement and interest in reading in the wake of a Busload of Books visit. For her EERA presentation, Castellani took a deep dive into the findings from one of the responding schools.

“Busload was rife with great data – qualitative and quantitative. We were looking into how teachers and communities prepare for one-time enrichment opportunities beyond location and scheduling and asking how to offer resources to prepare them in advance for these really impactful events,” Castellani said.

The conference presentation went well, with attendees approaching Castellani afterward to thank her for her “joyful” findings. One attendee, a K-12 teacher, called it a “lightning in a bottle moment,” lauding the project’s work to create events that sparked joy around reading.

“People were excited to hear something so positive,” she recalled.

Castellani’s SCE has now grown to include three case studies following three schools’ preparation before and follow-up after a Busload of Books event and the impact of each in their respective school communities. Her SCE advisor, Clarke-De Reza, has called her a “rockstar” for her continuous work on the project, much of which is documented on the Busload of Books blog.

She has also been recognized regionally and is now a Transform Mid-Atlantic Civic Engagement Fellow, the first from Washington College.

Castellani, weighing grad school options soon, feels lucky to have found her new path in life.

“In the last two years my worldview has expanded so much,” she said. “I didn’t know what civic engagement or human development was before taking classes with Professor Clarke-De Reza, and now I’m just wanting to continue that experience. I’ve grown so attached to the professors in these departments, and I will take any chance I can to work with them in the future.”

Castellani will be presenting her SCE tomorrow, April 25, at 3:30 p.m. in the Hynson Lounge.

- Dominique Ellis Falcon