North Medford High launches new reading program for teen parents

Medford, Ore. — North Medford is the only high school in Southern Oregon which provides services to teen parents and their kids. The teen parent program has been around for decades, but they’re constantly trying to expand their resources, and Friday marked the start of their newest program.

“It helps to support our teen parents who are just learning to read to their kids,” Michelle Larsen says, “trying to get them exposed to the public library system and really trying to promote reading with their children.”

For young parents like Zoe Mermin, it’s one more opportunity to bond with her little girl Ava.

“It’s really great, not all schools have this, and the CDC (Child Development Center),” Zoe says, ” we’re really lucky to be a part of it.”

The program is called Little Whirls in the Library, and each week, parents will come with their kids for story time, and leave with a book to read at home.

“They have their own card, and then they’re responsible for the book and they need to bring it back and show that they can do it again,” Larsen adds.

Zoe says it’s something she’ll definitely be taking advantage of, and program organizers say that will pay off.

“It’s absolutely essential for kids to be successful in school and so we want to get them started 6 weeks on up.”

All of the books for this program were donated by the community, and if it’s successful they hope to expand it to 2 days a week.