Schools
Ridgefield Students Honor Former Principal With Reading Challenge
Veterans Park Elementary students took part in a reading challenge honoring former principal Ellen Tuckner.
RIDGEFIELD, CT — Veterans Park Elementary School held an awards ceremony last week for the Great Ellen Tuckner Reading Challenge, a three-month competition honoring Ellen Tuckner, a former Veterans Park principal who died last year.
The challenge asked students to respond to the prompt, “What Lit the Fire to Ignite Your Love for Reading?” Students were allowed to submit responses in several formats, including videos, posters, essays, drawings and slideshows, according to Ridgefield Public Schools.
Tuckner served as principal of Veterans Park for five years. Her husband, Jim Alkon, organized the project and attended the ceremony with family and friends.
“We didn’t want to ask students to just read another book,” Alkon said in the release. “And we wanted to make the project accessible to all grade levels. So we allowed students to respond in whatever format they wanted — video, poster, essay, drawing, slideshow, etc.”
Winners were named in each grade from kindergarten through fifth grade, along with one grand prize winner. Alkon and Veterans Park staff judged the competition. Winners received cowbells, a reference to Tuckner’s love of the “Saturday Night Live” “More Cowbell” skit featuring Will Ferrell, the district said.
“Choosing winners was tough,” Veterans Park Principal Sheri Prendergast said in the release. “Our students are so creative, and they really rose to the challenge.”
Jaxon Griffin won the grand prize for his “Doors of Discovery” poster. He received a $50 gift card donated by Books on the Common, a book of his choice dedicated to the Veterans Park library and a $250 check to a charity of his choice, according to the district.
Hannah Salimbene received the fifth-grade award. The district said she shared that Tuckner helped spark her interest in reading through the book “What Do You Do With a Chance,” which the release described as encouraging children to take risks even when a task seems difficult.
Other grade-level winners were Stella Zhu in kindergarten, Katherine Zhang in first grade, Hannah Duca in second grade, Emme Grenert in third grade and Christine Zhang in fourth grade. Each received a cowbell and a Books on the Common gift card, according to the district.
The district said all students who participated received gray commemorative T-shirts.
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