Quinnipiac Community Participate in Read Across America

Quinnipiac employees from left, Tracy Carim, administrative assistant to the School of Education, Bethany Zemba, vice president for strategy and community relations and chief of staff, Charity Kuchyt, associate director of university events, John Arcangelo, director of alumni outreach and development communications, and Karla Natale, associate vice president of community partnerships, show the books they read to students at Green Acres Elementary School in North Haven. (Photo courtesy of Yardley Messeroux, United Way of Greater New Haven).

HAMDEN – Mia Lopata, a member of the Quinnipiac University women’s ice hockey team, reads to second-grade students at Spring Glen Elementary School in Hamden on Friday, March 3.

Lopata was one of over 30 members of the Quinnipiac community to read to students in Hamden and North Haven as part as the “Read Across America” program as well as QU athletics’ second annual Equity Week events and its new Building Bobcats community endeavor.

Bethany Zemba, QU’s vice president for strategy and community relations and chief of staff, read to students at Green Acres Elementary School in North Haven, which was organized in partnership with United Way. One of the book was about Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani education activist and 2014 Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

“Through reading stories, we give children the capacity to dream big and use their imaginations,” said Zemba. “The students were so engaged – especially when we read a story about Malala and how she has used her writing and voice to make a powerful difference in the world, even as a young person.”