Initially, Pacific Palisades resident Trevor Hanken wanted to collect 1,000 books for Access Books; by March the total had reached more than 19,000. Additionally, the senior at Oaks Christian School was notified that he is a National Merit finalist.
“Trevor began as a volunteer with Access Books, a nonprofit that refurbishes school libraries on a small level, collecting books to donate,” wrote Access Books Executive Director Rebecca Constantino. “It was enough to create two libraries, one at Celerit Palmattie Elementary in North Hollywood and one at the Union Rescue Mission in downtown L.A.
Hanken, who attended Calvary Christian School, told the Palisadian-Post, “My older brother Taylor and I were always avid readers in elementary and middle school. We had a program at school called Accelerated Reading, in which students got points for reading and taking brief tests on lots of books.
“Taylor and I had a vigorous but friendly competition to see which of us could build up the most points. Our school also had community-service programs that interacted with orphanages and inner-city schools. From those interactions, I saw that many children simply do not have access to enough books to have the opportunity to learn to read in the same way that I had.”
Hanken did additional research and learned that California ranks last in library funding for public schools. His family started collecting and donating between 100 and 300 books to Access annually.
In high school, Hanken spoke to a fellow student about Access Books and they started Access Book Club, which was devoted to educating fellow students about collecting books. They organized a book drive at Oaks Christian, and then at the middle school. “Later we held book drives at church youth groups, and with various athletic teams, as well as spreading the word to friends and family,” Hanken said. “Our original goal of 1,000 books was raised to 10,000 books and at our last count we have collected and donated over 19,000 books to Access books.”
In addition to Celerit Palmatti and the Union Rescue Mission, books have also been delivered to Anderson Elementary School in Lawndale. “It’s a great feeling to know we have done something to inspire young students to read,” said Hanken, who is vice president of his school’s debate club and has participated in numerous tournaments in parliamentary debate and impromptu speaking. He has a third-degree brown belt in Shaolin Kempo, which he learned at Z-Ultimate (formerly United Studios of Self-Defense) in the Palisades Highlands Plaza, where he has been studying for 10 years.
Hanken was a member of L.A. Lacrosse for four years and a varsity player at Oaks Christian for three years as a midfielder, but this year was unable to play because of a conflict between lacrosse and the varsity debate schedules.
Hanken, whose parents are Elaine and Garrett Hanken, will attend Vanderbilt University in the fall to studying mechanical engineering.
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