Gatlinburg-Pittman Junior High awarded grand prize in global school stars contest
May 6, 2021

GATLINBURG, TN – The educators at Gatlinburg-Pittman Junior High (GPJH) recognize that technology is extremely valuable during remote and hybrid learning and are constantly adapting to fulfill their students’ changing B service to their school community.

To bolster literacy, GPJH educators created an “March Madness Reading Challenge” contest which encourages students to complete by reading eBooks and audiobooks in the Sora reading app. This year’s School Stars contest received over 200 entries from around the world and is facilitated by OverDrive Education, the leading digital reading platform for K-12 schools.

“GPJH is thrilled to have won the grand prize in the Sora School Stars competition,” said Sally Helton, Librarian at Gatlinburg-Pittman Junior High. “The promotion for which we're being honored was created to kick off the introduction of Sora with our school community, and our students (and staff!) have really enjoyed having access to this collection of books that can be read electronically. Mrs. Terri Soehn (Media Center Assistant) and I are thrilled to have been awarded the $2500 prize to use for more eBooks and are already loading our cart with titles for our students to read and enjoy."

The Sora app expands access to digital reading materials by connecting GPJH students with the school’s broad collection of eBooks and audiobooks. GPJH students have convenient and safe access to hundreds of the district’s age-appropriate eBooks and audiobooks collection. These reading materials are available for use on any device inside the classroom, at home and anywhere 24/7. Data from thousands of schools using Sora shows students of all ages read more and industry research indicates eBooks and audiobooks improve comprehension and critical listening.

Inspired by educator and student feedback, Sora offers both assigned and pleasure reading incentivized with fun avatars and achievements within the app to encourage a focus on learning. Sora also supports teachers by offering classroom-specific tools like personal assignments, reading analytics and exportable notes that individualize learning.

Sora, named one of TIME’s Best Inventions of 2019, was built by OverDrive Education, a division of OverDrive serving over 48,000 K-12 schools worldwide. OverDrive is the leading digital reading platform for a growing network of 65,000 libraries – including Anna Porter Public Library – and schools in 84 countries.

The Sora app is available for GPJH students, faculty and staff to download through the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, and on Chromebooks that support the Google Play Store. It is also available for use in web browsers at soraapp.com. To learn more, visit discoversora.com.

About Gatlinburg-Pittman Junior High
Opened in the fall of 2020, Gatlinburg-Pittman Junior High embraces a tradition of excellence which fosters responsible, respectful, and academically-motivated citizens. GPJH recognizes that building a culture that values literacy is the keystone of its mission. To that end, building a library collection and developing student-centered programming has been a priority this year. With the support of the Sevier County School System and grant funding provided by the Niswonger Foundation and the Dollar General Literacy Foundation, the GPJH Library has filled its shelves with library books, has acquired magazines and news in digital form, and has introduced a library of eBooks via the Sora reading app to meet the needs of its diverse community of readers. Since the beginning of the school year, students at GPJH have checked out over 2500 physical books from the library's collection; since introducing the Sora app on March 1, 2021, students have opened almost 600 eBooks and logged over 700 active reading hours. Follow the GPJH Library on Instagram and Twitter - @GPJHLibrary.

About OverDrive Education – a division of OverDrive
OverDrive Education offers the industry’s largest catalog of ebooks, audiobooks and streaming video for over 48,000 K-12 schools worldwide. The company's student reading app, Sora, helps schools embrace the future of reading, providing 24/7 access to books and powerful learning tools and insights to meet the needs of students and educators. Sora was named one of TIME’s Best Inventions of 2019. Founded in 1986, OverDrive – the leading digital reading platform for libraries – and OverDrive Education are based in Cleveland, Ohio USA. www.overdrive.com/schools.