We were lucky to catch up with DAYLO (Diversity Awareness Youth Literacy Organization) recently and have shared our conversation below.
DAYLO , thank you so much for joining us. You are such a positive person and it’s something we really admire and so we wanted to start by asking you where you think your optimism comes from?
[In this interview, DAYLO is represented by Becca Bennett, president of the Beaufort Academy chapter of DAYLO, and E Achurch, founding president of The Complete Student chapter of DAYLO. Both are rising high school juniors.]
Becca: For me, optimism comes from understanding our history in general, because there have always been cycles of tyranny and authoritarian regimes that aim to snuff out the goodness, diversity, and uniqueness of humanity in order to control and confine people. However, throughout history, these corrupt regimes also always come crashing down in the end. Now the cycle is repeating, and the resistance efforts may be long, but eventually something always changes for the better. Progress is inevitable, and people will regain control again of our lives and our livelihoods, as is also part of the cycle. So, while there will always be selfish and controlling people in the world, taking from others for their own gain, there will also always be people who believe in freedom and democracy, and who are willing to speak out and stand up for one another. In DAYLO, we advocate for ourselves and for others who cannot do so on their own. With each generation, the mantle is passed down to carry on fighting for the ideals of empathy and democracy, and now it’s our turn. We will lose some struggles and win others, but over time, progress will always be made. Books tell us that, as do the stories and histories of those who have come before us.
E: I think a lot of what gives me and fellow DAYLO kids optimism and a sense of hope for the future is that there are just so many of us and so many other people who on our side. We’ve found community within DAYLO, and by connecting with other youth advocacy groups and other organizations and individuals who support the right to read and the ideals of our democracy, we’ve been able to grow a really strong support system. There are so many more people who support the individual freedoms inherent in the right to read than there against it.
Censors and book banners rely on misinformation, fear mongering, and being obnoxiously loud to persuade and bully others. But we are learning to use our voices too (collectively and individually), and to use positive connections, additive experiences, and a supportive community to continue to persevere. And it’s working. We have been able to get challenged books back in our local school libraries, banned books into Little Free Libraries across our communities, and more diversity in literature and experiential educational through public programming and community-building engagements. We’ve become a force multiplier, inspiring and educating others, which is the best thing we can be doing right now.
Every success DAYLO has shows us what’s possible when young people commit to something we care about and just how much we can achieve together when we try—even when we have to try again and again. That’s a story worth telling and worth sharing with others every chance we get.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
Becca: DAYLO, or the Diversity Awareness Youth Literacy Organization, is a student-led book club focusing on promoting literacy within our communities and engaging in unique perspectives, as well as inspiring empathy and kindness. DAYLO began at Beaufort High School in 2021, and now we have 10 chapters across South Carolina—including at my school, Beaufort Academy, and E’s school, The Complete Student.
DAYLO believes in a pro-literacy approach that brings books, authors, and stories into the lives of young readers and writers, whether that’s through our monthly Teddy Bear Picnic read-alouds at our local farmers market, where DAYLO students read to kids and families, or by stocking dozens of Little Free Libraries around our communities. In a world where education and literacy are increasingly undervalued and the rise of AI threatens to further belittle the importance of forming complex original thoughts, reasoning, and understanding, encouraging our generation and our younger peers to value the importance of books and the diverse, intricate stories of others is key to countering thoughtlessness and apathy. The ability to understand narrative in a book and to decide how different perspectives fit into one’s own view of the world are steps toward further encouraging critical thinking skills and independent opinions on the messy, chaotic world we live in. And that’s also essential to preserving and uplighting the very core of democracy itself.
E: In a time when book bans and censorship are on the rise nationally, DAYLO offers a compelling counterpoint by using the power of stories to be additive, to expand and augment our experiences and our understanding of ourselves and one another. Reading and discussing the book club selections we pick for ourselves is a kind of advocacy, too. Beyond that, many of our DAYLO chapters are active in our communities as literacy volunteers, either on our own or in collaboration. We also advocate in more overt ways, like speaking at school board meetings; presenting to community groups, literary festivals, and professional conferences; writing letters, emails, and op-eds about the freedom to read; and developing online tools to help other students adopt or adapt what has worked well for us. (Those toolkits can be found at https://readcon.info/pro-literacy-youth/ and https://www.getreadystayready.info/pro-literacy-youth.)
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Becca: Our DAYLO community is very welcoming, always open to explaining and addressing questions, and always patient and understanding of new members who are particularly shy or unsure. DAYLO is also utterly determined. Students are willing to sacrifice precious time during their high school careers to stand up for the right to read freely in our communities and to advocate for those who cannot speak for themselves. Many young people and their families simply don’t have the resources to buy their books or even have reliable transportation to their public libraries. Instead, they rely on access to books and information in their school libraries and the generosity of individuals and groups, like DAYLO, to provide books and literacy to their communities.
Beginning advocates should know that there are lots of ways to advocate, and all of them matter. Not everybody has to give speeches at tense school board meetings or to combative legislative committees. At its core, DAYLO is a student-led book club that encourages empathy and values diversity through the books we choose to read. No one is required to do anything that is uncomfortable, and members can choose to engage in more public roles if they want to, or they can find other roles that are the most impactful for them. DAYLO empowers and trusts students to make our own choices, and our advisors and mentors are always understanding and supportive in how we exercise our decisions.
E: You might hear this often, but it’s nonetheless true: practice makes perfect. It’s one of the best ways to start your journey in advocacy, whether you begin by speaking at public events, having conversations with your peers, or just reading a book about someone else’s experiences that might be different from your own. Developing a sense of empathy is essential for what we do in DAYLO. No one is going to be perfect right off the bat, but being part of an open, understanding, nurturing group like DAYLO can help immensely.
Something that will also be beneficial to your advocacy journey is being willing to learn and to take on new challenges. When I first joined DAYLO, I didn’t know what I could do to help or to empower others. But by taking on any opportunity given to me, and asking my mentors and peers for help and advice, I always been supported and encouraged, giving me many chances for personal growth. That’s what DAYLO does: it empowers young people like us to speak up and get a little out of our comfort zones in a community that priorities our safety and learning. So, my advice for anyone interested in advocacy is to find your people, a group willing to help and support you, take opportunities given to you, and practice as much as you can.
Okay, so before we go, is there anyone you’d like to shoutout for the role they’ve played in helping you develop the essential skills or overcome challenges along the way?
Becca: I’ve had many guiding mentors and sources of support in my life. In DAYLO, my most prominent guides are my mom, Claire Bennett (who is also my DAYLO chapter advisor and a co-mentor to all DAYLO leaders), and my sister Millie (a past DAYLO leader and a star of the documentary film Banned Together). Both have been patient and encouraging with me to help me step out of my comfort zone, little by little, showing me by example what courage and compassion can mean in different contexts.
My other answer isn’t a who exactly; it’s a what. Books have also fostered a support system for me; they allow me to escape my world and seek engagement with new, abstract ideas and realities of which I could never fully understand without stories. Books give me a step up, a chance to peer into someone else’s life (even decades back) and witness their heartache and bone-deep exhaustion, and then see how they moved forward anyway. With this knowledge, which is only a fraction of what really occurs in a day-to-day life for many people, I can nurse my own feelings, temper my ignorance, and try to understand and connect with those I am dissimilar to. Books are our guides, our introductions into the unknown, after that it is up to us to follow through with these newfound revelations. Being a part of DAYLO, in an environment that values books and stories, has given me a community of other readers and creators who can also appreciate narrative and art in these ways.
E: I’ve had many guides and mentors in my DAYLO journey who have had strong impacts on me. Those who have been most influential in shaping my personal journey are my fellow DAYLO leaders, who are supportive peers, and also Jonathan Haupt, who has been a mentor to me through both DAYLO and the Pat Conroy Literary Center, always challenging me with new opportunities, but also always supporting me in my attempts to learn and to succeed in those opportunities.
I draw so much of inspiration from my peers, observing how they navigate challenges and how they approach different opportunities. When it comes to my nemesis, public speaking, I’ve received helpful advice and reassurance from students who also understand struggling with anxiety. Getting through challenges and improving alongside so many amazing people has helped me understand what I want to do, what I’m comfortable with, and how I can continue to grow and strengthen my skills in advocacy and in just being a more engaged citizen of the world.
My mentor Mr. Haupt has also played a major role in my journey through DAYLO. He’s been able to give me a plethora of new opportunities that I’m so grateful to have, whether it’s doing author interviews and introductions onstage, presenting at DAYLO community events, or representing our group to other students or to supportive adults. I’ve been able to push myself out of my comfort zone and take advantage of these opportunities, using each one to improve my public speaking, my self-confidence, and my sense of identity as a young leader and advocate. Mr. Haupt has also been able to give me helpful advice that has changed the way I think, speak, write, and show up in the spaces I care about.
Everyone in DAYLO has been with me every step of the way, giving me the strength to speak up, the courage to keep going, and the belief that our voices truly do make a difference, because the fight for intellectual freedom needs all of us–together.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/DAYLOBFT
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/DAYLO_reads
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DAYLO.reads
- Other: https://ncac.org/news/daylo-words-that-empower-voices-that-matter
Image Credits
All photos courtesy of DAYLO.
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