THORNTON, Colo. — Anthony Henriquez is a senior at Pinnacle Charter School in Thornton.
The CliffsNotes version of his story is this: Pinnacle High School has no library. For his senior project, Anthony wanted to create one. This is truly remarkable because, until 6th or 7th grade, Anthony couldn't read. A special teacher broke through, Anthony learned to read and now reading and books are his passion.
Anthony hoped he might be able to get a start on the library by the end of the school year. Evin Moore with the youth literacy nonprofit Burning Through Pages is speeding that up, a lot.
Moore saw Denver7's original report on Anthony's efforts. He jumped into action and rounded up the help of other nonprofits and the Denver independent bookstore, Second Star to the Right.
Moore surprised Anthony at his high school with the news that his groups were going to provide all the books for that library.
"We're going to fund $2,500 of your purchase personally. And we're going to buy all of the books from a local independent bookstore. That bookstore is going to help as well," Moore said.
"We have other booksellers that are going to be donating as well. We have other non-profits. What we're saying is you're going to have a library. And it's all because of you," Moore continued.
Anthony was overwhelmed.
"Thank you. That's crazy," he said.
Anthony and school leadership will now buy the books, build the shelves, and turn a school conference room into the school library.
A library that will need a name.
"I told my grandpa first. He's my best friend. So I told him I wanted to build a library. And he said, 'Anthony, you're going to do so much with it and imagine they name it after you,'" Anthony said.
